Legacy of the Void Mage
by Empty Coffee Cup
Summary: It is said that the Void is vast with mystery and power, only those who are willing to learn from it can wield it. An old protoss met his end on Aiur fulfilling his duty to the universe. A young mage wanted to be free of the jeers of her fellow students. A summoning spell will bring them together and hopefully teach her how to handle her unkown power.
1. Prologue

**Author notes: This is a story that I've been thinking about for some time. I've read a few crossovers of Familiar of Zero and Starcraft involving the zerg and the terrans but nothing about the protoss. So I decided to try if I could make it work. This is my first story here in so if you have any pointers or criticism you're more than invited to say it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Starcraft nor Familiar of Zero**

Prologue: Cold is the Void.

A bright flash of green and red erupted from the blades of two protoss warriors, illuminating the darkened room with the physical manifestation of their will. One of the Khalai and the other of the Nerazim. Two factions that were once sworn enemies until the first great war known as the Brood War. It brought both tragedy and unity to the protoss race, placing eons of hatred, spite and strife aside in order to face a common foe and help each other to prevent the extinction of the firstborns.

These two warriors engaged in combat were two of the most important figures among their brethren. The one wielding a green warp blade and embraced in shadows was named Zeratul, a Dark Templar. His nerve cords were cut short, as the teachings of his people demanded in order to maintain a connection to the Void and its power. The other protoss was Artanis, the Hierarch to his people yet he struggled with the weight that came with the responsibility of leading his brethren during this dark times that brought the emerging of the creators of his species. He, like most who followed the faith of the Khala, had his nerve cords coiled into a long braid letting him listen to the emotions and thoughts of other Khalai and allowing them to do the same to him.

Recently, Zeratul had finished collecting fragments of an ancient prophecy depicting the demise of all life in the universe at the hands of Amon, the last of the xel'naga. With this discovery, he went to warn the terran commander and friend Jim Raynor about the bleak consequences of killing the Queen of Blades. It changed the terran's mind and pushed him to de-infest the aforementioned foe, reverting her back into Sarah Kerrigan. A terran ghost operative with unprecedented psionic power once betrayed by her superiors that caused her to become a genocidal and cunning being bent on vengeance.

It was after Kerrigan escaped the Dominion's forces that she received a visit from Zeratul inside a massive cruiser-like zerg creature, Leviathan, she was using as a base of operations. He guided her to the birth world of the zerg, Zerus and told her how to become more powerful than she ever was in her previous infested self, free from any outside control, using her drive for vengeance to get her to comply.

And then, Zeratul returned to his brethren, if only for a short time. He warned them to not try to invade Aiur, the End war was coming and it could become the end of everything and everybody if it wasn't dealt with accordingly. He was marked as a traitor, with not unfounded reason. He, after all, killed the previous Matriarch of the Nerazim during the Brood War to release her from mental control. But they only knew the what, not the why.

Now, it came to this.

Zeratul had been right. Amon corrupted the Khala by his will. Using the nerve cords as a conduit to his control, he turned protoss against protoss, Khalai against Nerazim. It was shortly after finding Artanis in the middle of the battle against the zerg occupying the planet and the corrupted protoss warriors adding even more chaos to the mayhem that was the invasion when the Dark Prelate saw the Hierarch struggling to get free from the grasp of the Fallen One's will. But he finally succumbed to the crushing volition of Amon.

A crackle of red lightning and a shockwave erupting from Artanis began the battle, with it, a veil of smoke shrouded Zeratul as he vanished from sight only to appear a few meters away, warp blade ignited. The only way to free the possessed protoss was to sever his nerve cords, but it proved to not be an easy feat as Artanis charged at the Dark Templar. He kept dodging the relentless slashes until he jumped over the Hierarch, the tip of his blade barely brushing against the nerve cord. Just as he landed, he was grabbed by his neck and brought close to his opponent.

 **"This body, all protoss, are mine."** Said the voice of Amon from his puppet. He then proceeded to throw Zeratul to a wall nearby and electrocute him with crimson lighting, using it to drag him to the floor. As tiny shocks of energy arced around his prone body, he heard the Dark One speak again. **"I will shatter this corrupt cycle… you shall not stand against me."**

Unsteadily and slowly, Zeratul rose and ignited his green warp blade once more as he vowed "My life for Aiur."

The possessed warrior answered his words by powering both of his psi blades with the corrupt crimson energy of Amon. They both charged for one last time. A brief, yet bright, flash of light was the final strike for both warriors as after a few seconds one of them fell to his knees and the other turned to acknowledge it. Just as his head turned, the action made the results visible as the long coil of nerves fell to the floor, one of its ends still smoking.

Instantly, Artanis cried out to the heavens as violent bolts of red lighting erupted from within him to the darkened sky with a force that briefly lifted him from the ground. Just as it ended, he dropped down to his hands and knees as he panted tiredly from the mental strain the mind control had on him. His dazed gaze fell upon the kneeling shape of his friend. His wounds too grave for him to do anything more than to say:

"The keystone… will guide you… to the xel'naga…"

Zeratul finally collapsed unceremoniously as Artanis approached slowly. The weight of his actions felt heavier than anything he could have ever imagined. He gently held the body by the shoulders and turned the face to him as he said his last words to his longtime friend as he followed the same fate of the protoss upon death, leaving only dust in the wind, a cloth that he used to cover his face and his trusty warp blade.

"Zeratul… forgive me."

* * *

 _"Awaken, old friend."_

A pair of brilliant green lights shone through the deep sea of emptiness. The sudden inhale of nothing that followed made the only being floating in the void known to apparently no one. Dazedly, he swiveled his head from left to right trying to find the origin of the voice. A voice he thought he would never hear again ever since his brief visit to Aiur during his search for the prophecy of the end of everything.

"Tassadar? …Is that you?" Asked Zeratul into the space before him. He knew his days were counted ever since he stepped into the doomed invasion for the recovery of the protoss home planet. He didn't expect to become part of the void, or stay conscious after his demise.

 _"It seems you have set the events to prevent the end of everything in motion. Just as it was planned."_ The ghostly visage of the protoss hero appeared in front of the Dark Templar. Zeratul looked mesmerized as his Tassadar continued. _"Do not misunderstand. You did fall in battle, but I need you to accomplish one more task for the sake of the universe."_

"What do you mean, Tassadar?" Floating closer to the apparition, the Dark Templar tried to find the words to express his confusion. "I have done everything I could to prevent the end. What else is there to do?"

 _"Worry not, Zeratul. I am sure your sacrifice will bear better results than you would ever expect. But the place of your task is in another reality altogether."_ He paused. Clasping his hands before him, Tassadar created a ball of light that soon developed into a mechanical object which he instantly recognized.

"A probe…" Curiously, he took the golden worker in his hands. Looking at it in its frontal lens, he notice something was amiss. "It is deactivated." Raising his head to Tassadar, he said, "This other reality, it is in danger, is it not?"

Nodding, the ghost explained. _"Indeed. And the only one able to save everyone is in need of guidance. The power she wields is beyond her comprehension and it may cause her to tread an uncertain path."_

"And you want me to become her guide." Zeratul deduced. "I admit the suddenness of this request is disconcerting, but if it is for the greater good, I shall accept this role."

 _"Thank you, Zeratul. But in order to avoid… troubling inconveniences, you must be concealed during one day. The probe shall do the rest."_

"I will not disappoint you, old friend." After a few seconds, he finally asked. "How am I to know who is my charge?"

 _"Do not worry, you will know when the time comes."_


	2. Chapter 1 The Normal World

**Author Notes: I've never expected to see such a good respons to this story. I really wanna thank you guys and I promise to wirte the best as I can.**

 **Speaking of which, I want to say I'll upload at least once every two weeks (if nothing goes wrong). Whenever I have somthing important to say, I'll leave it in my bio.**

 **Now, onto reviews:**

 **Dreadnought Spartan889, Jeggetts and lightdreamer1** **: I'll try my best to make the characters look and feel believable, but I am only human (sadly, I always wanted to be a dolphin) and I can make mistakes from time to time (That doesn't mean I'll fuck up badly and sweep it under the rug). I also plan on taking to turn the story and twist it a little bit withour alienizing people who don't come from one or either fandom.**

 **someone: I noticed that and I felt stupid for not realizing it earlier. I'll edit previous chapters after each upload.**

 **Guest: I don't plan on that. Please, I know first impressions are important but jumping to conclussions is not something I would recommend.**

 **Metal Vile: Yes, while I want to get to that point but at a slower pace. I want Louise to learn to be responsible and to show personal growth under Zeratul's guidance.**

 **With that out of the way, let's begin.**

* * *

Chapter 1. The Normal World.

The morning sun rose lazily above the land of Halkeginia. Its shine illuminated the farmlands and the peasants working on it. Those who stayed indoors, yet were wide awake at this hour, had the same pleasant view as they had they day prior as it was every spring sunrise. It rarely rained at this hour during this time of the year.

It was the same sunshine that filtered through the curtains and into the room in one of the towers that composed the Tristain Academy of Magic. The light fell on the face of a young, pink haired girl. She blinked a few times and yawned in a way most would have considered cute, shook her head and untangled the mental cobwebs from the remnants of her dreams.

She stood up and walked to the mirror with a brush she grabbed from the dresser. She undid the very few knots of hair produced by tossing and turning last night, all the while she checked her face for those unladylike signs of drool from murmuring things in her sleep. Being part of nobility means she must look her best at all times, her appearance must be above the one of a commoner.

Once groomed to an acceptable point, she opened her wardrobe and pulled out her school uniform. While she was not above letting a servant dress her, she didn't want to go looking for one of the maids working in the academy. Even less so in her nightgown. But she did not have the ability to pull her clothing out of the wardrobe by levitating it either. After dressing herself, she went to admire herself in the mirror.

She looked at her silky pink hair cascading all the way down her back, her bangs barely reached halfway in front of her forehead. Her pink eyes, so full of life and hope of having a good day, were at attention for any imperfection on herself. Her uniform was perfectly fit for a person of her stature, both socially and physically speaking. Her black cape was neatly clasped right in front of the academy's medal, a pentagram engraved in a disc of gold. With a nod, she grabbed her wand and headed to the door.

Only to get her face buried between two soft mounds of flesh.

"Mmmph!" She flailed her hands trying to dislodge her head from the warm, sweet smelling prison. She heard a muffled voice from above her head.

"My, oh my, Louise. I would've never thought you were so bold."

Once the pinkette freed herself from her imprisonment, she looked up to see the most despicable person she had ever met.

"What do you want, Zerbst?" Asked angrily Louise, her hands still on the other girl's large bosom. Once she noticed her hands, however, she quickly released her involuntary hold.

"Well, I was walking out of my room, then I turned to greet my neighbor when I was suddenly assaulted by the ravaging advances of Louise, the Zero." Answered Kirche von Zerbst, rather coyly. One of the most beautiful girls in the whole academy, from her fiery red hair and tanned skin to her voluptuous form that left jaws hanging everywhere she went and almost indecent way she wore her uniform, which was at least two sizes too small for her. She was of Germanian nobility, also one of the von Zerbst who had a family feud with the Valliére family of Tristain over stealing a fiancée from them centuries ago. It was bad luck for Louise de la Valliére that they had their rooms arranged right next to the other.

The shorter student glared at her peer and just turned around and stomped her way downstairs, her face was red with both embarrassment and rage. But before she could reach the stairs, though, she heard Kirche from behind her.

"I can't wait to see what you manage to summon during the summoning ceremony. Oh, right. That is if you don't blow your familiar up!" She exclaimed in a cheery tone.

"Just you wait, Zerbst! I'll summon the most powerful, intelligent and loyal familiar you and the entire world have seen!" The shout was accompanied with the hurried clomps of shoes on stone stairs and, if one were to pay closer attention, a faint sniffle.

By the time Louise reached the bottom of the stairs, she was thinking about what Kirche said. It was no surprise to anyone that she was not able to cast any spells without it ending in an explosion. She, who was part of one of the most magically powerful and influential families in the nobility of Tristain, was not as adept to magic as anyone in her family. She, daughter of Karin the Heavy Wind, was barely able to make explosions, none of which had harmed anyone thus far in her time here, and dense black clouds of smoke that could be seen from anywhere in the academy much to her chagrin.

 _"What would mother think if I can't summon anything? This is my last chance to at least do something right."_ She thought. The pressure of having her fate hanging over a spell that could save her from possibly being good only to be married off to some old goat, or worse, getting cast-off from her family name and live the rest of her days as a commoner. To be the laughing stock of the students, teachers, maids, servants, farmhands, even the princess if she still remembered her.

 _"Snap out of it!"_

She shook her head and looked around her, trying to find the source of the stray thought. She found herself sitting beneath a tree on the schoolyard. She led her gaze upwards and noticed that it was approximately ten in the morning. She had been moping around for more than an hour and she hadn't noticed until now. "Just remember, Louise. Be like steel. You can endure anything. Don't break under their mockery. Just like mother taught you." She murmured.

A soft growl from her belly told her that she missed breakfast.

"Darn it." Cursing over something like this was beneath her, if her sister Cattleya ever heard her cursing she would be upset, or wash her mouth with the soap she used to wash her pets.

A gentle cough caught her attention to a person sitting next to her holding a small plate with a piece of a pastry she didn't recognize and a cup of tea of similarly familiar blend in each hand. She was barely older than her, with bowl cut black hair and a kind expression that reminded her of her middle sister. A small, yet relatively voluminous and modestly bound, book with a strangely written title on the cover lay next to her on the grass, right next to a handbasket with a spare cup and an iron kettle. But there was one glaring detail about this girl that made her do a double take.

The maid uniform she was wearing.

It was odd to see a commoner reading from something like a book like it for leisure. Of course, it was common for them to be taught to read for whenever they had to go on errands and follow instructions left by those nobles who had to travel frequently. But teaching them foreign languages was a luxury left only for those servants who accompanied ambassadors or royalty in an almost daily basis.

"Umm… Miss?"

Louise snapped out of her confused stupor as she refocused on the maid still holding the pastry and the cup of tea forward, undeterred by her lack of response. The young noble shifted her eyes between the offered items and the maid until she finally asked. "What are you doing, maid?"

The maid answered, "Well, Miss Valliére. I saw you didn't go to the mess hall and I thought you hadn't had breakfast yet. So I'm offering you something to eat."

The youngest of the Valliére then asked, suspiciously. "And how did you know that? Were you spying on me so the others could find anything else to mock me about?"

The maid leaned back, shocked. "No, nothing like that. I assure you, Miss Valliére." She picked up her book and showed it to her. "I was merely taking my free hour to take some rest before the students finished their meals."

Now that she had the aforementioned book in close detail, she noticed that indeed it was written in another language she hadn't seen before. And she was quite well versed with some of the languages in the neighboring kingdoms of Halkeginia, it was one of the things she studied with frequency whenever she was tired of having her share of morning explosions when she was a child.

Nodding to herself, she asked the maid. "Well, if that is the case, would you care to tell me your name, maid? If I am to keep talking to you, then I need something to call you other than 'maid.'" She wanted to inquire more about the book, but her hungry stomach took the best of her. She moved to take the offered foodstuff, to which the maid simply nodded as she graciously gave it with a sincere smile.

"Of course, Miss Valliére. My name is Siesta."

The youngest of the Valliére knew more than to turn away such a gesture of generosity. She was taught by nearly everyone in her family that commoners were the backbone of any kingdom, regardless of having no magical power at all, as they were the ones who worked the lands her family owned, they cooked the food she ate, they made the dresses she wore and they even cleaned and, to some extent, repaired the zones she had her magical mishaps.

Satisfied with the answer, she took a bite. Louise noticed the strange pastry was a bit oily and spongy, yet a bit crispy and very sweet. It was covered in a fine sheet of sugar and it was still warm, which meant it was fresh out of whatever it was cooked in. Feeling curious about this, she asked Siesta. "What is this? I've never tasted a thing such as this."

"Oh, it's something that my grandfather called 'funnel cake.' Is it not your liking?" Siesta asked nervously. She had never been this open with one of the students, but she felt something when she saw her sitting here all alone like a kicked puppy. A sense of self-loathing she very much knew when her grandfather passed away. She couldn't just leave her here without someone to talk to. But it was by the faint grin on the young noble, she could tell that her mood had improved.

"No, no. It's quite good. I like it." Louise took another dainty bite and let the sweetness linger in her mouth a bit longer. She took a small sip from the teacup to cut the oily sensation of the pastry and continued, "It's just different."

"I'm glad it was your liking." Siesta grabbed a spare teacup and poured some tea in it. "My grandfather loved to make some for me and my brothers despite my mother telling him he was spoiling us a bit too much." She let out a soft sigh, "He taught me the recipe, actually. If you'd like it, I can share some more tomorrow."

The maid looked at the sky and let out a gasp. "Oh no! My break is almost over, I must go." Then she started gathering her things into her handbasket and turned to leave.

Before she could do so, however, a small hand grabbed the hem of the skirt of her uniform grabbing her attention. The maid turned to see Louise holding out her book with a sincere smile, she almost forgot it.

"I'm looking forward to speaking to you again as well, Siesta."

* * *

 **TWO HOURS AGO.**

"Just you wait, Zerbst! I'll summon the most powerful, intelligent and loyal familiar you and the entire world have seen!" The faint sound of shoes clomping angrily on the stone bricks of the stairs signaled the leave of the Zero.

"Overdone it." Kirche almost jumped out of her boots at the soft voice of another small girl with blue hair and glasses. A gnarled staff larger than herself was held in one hand and an open book in another.

"Tabitha, dear. I think you should really say hi from time to time. You almost gave me a heart attack." Said the redhead holding a hand over her left breast. Her friend merely rolled her eyes at her. "Do you really think I was too harsh?"

"Maybe. Breakfast." Responded Tabitha while walking alongside her extroverted friend. One would think that two people with such different personalities they would either clash constantly or ignore each other, but that difference was one of the reasons that they were rather good friends. After all, opposites attract.

The way downstairs wasn't very eventful, other than hearing other students going on about today's summoning ceremony. It was something akin to a rite of passage so to speak. It marked the step of becoming a full-fledged mage and it supposedly helped build responsibility over a companion, and for some unusal cases, an underling.

When they reached the mess hall, they had the same meal they usually had started some small chat over this morning's events.

"Seriously, Tabs. Do you really think I've overdone it?" Asked Kirche, after swallowing a mouthful of food. "I mean, I don't really hate the girl but it's just too easy to tease her. She could really learn to loosen up."

Tabitha simply shook her head and pointed at one of the windows. "Look."

And look she did. Through the window and below the shade of a lone tree, sat the diminutive girl with her chin resting on her knees. She was blankly staring at nothing and the small bobbing of the top of her head made it seem like she was mumbling something.

Seeing this, Kirche looked back at her friend who was, surprisingly despite her petite form, already finishing her meal and quietly asked, "Did I really do that?" Tabitha didn't respond immediately, as she dabbed her mouth clean with a napkin and got up.

The smaller girl gestured the other one to the half-eaten breakfast on Kirche's plate and suggested in the same way she usually spoke. "Finish, important. Then classes." Not responding at her friend's doubt.

Kirche stood up, took one last look at the girl beneath the shade of the tree and was surprised to see her being approached by one of the maids of the academy, one with a small handbasket hooked on her forearm. Feeling a bit more tranquil with herself, she followed Tabitha to the schoolyard, leaving her food behind. After all, it was the smaller girl who wanted to have breakfast this early.

They weren't the only ones heading there. Following their footsteps, some of the male students were following Kirche like lovesick puppies chanting praises and the like to her. Normally she would just smile, say a few pleasantries or compliments back, and then be on her way. But right now, she didn't even paid them attention. That was until she found a bouquet of flowers shoved in her face, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned her head and let out a sickly sweet smile at the one holding the flowers, one of the third grade students, Francis? Reginald? She didn't care at the moment. The guy almost fell to his trembling knees at being the center of her attention and blushed when Kirche brought her lovely features closer to him.

"H-h-hi, Kirche. Um… I-I-I was wonder-*gulp*-wondering if you, you…"

He was cut short when she spoke in a charming voice. "Darling~ I was wondering if you could go and tell me what time is it back at the Capital." She left out a profound sigh and put the back of her hand over her forehead, "I don't want to be dreadfully late at an errand I have."

By the time she directed her gaze at the boy, only a trail of dust was there to meet her. A very big trail of dust belonging to half of the swooning boys.

Up to this day, people are still talking about the massive dust cloud, brought by a horde of lovesick young mages, which swiftly reached the Capital that fateful day of spring.

Glad that she didn't have to deal with them anymore, she turned to speak once again with her friend. The bluette was quietly reading a book she pulled from somewhere. One of these days she was going to ask her where she kept taking these things from.

"Sometimes, being as beautiful as I am is such a chore. Don't you think so, Tabs?"

"Irrelevant." She turned another page.

"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport!"

Silence.

"Fine. I'll apologize to Louise later. Would you like to talk then?" Kirche conceded. A nod was her answer.

By the time they arrived the exit to the schoolyard, the second year students gathered in a wide circle around one of the teachers: Mr. Colbert, who was in charge of overseeing the performance of each summoning ritual.

Mr. Colbert was a man well into his late forties, or mid-fifties, as it was evidenced by his balding head and the faint wrinkles of his face. He had an air of authority around him, one that demanded respect out of merit rather than words. Yet he was known as one of the teachers who was understanding of his students and had a good reception among most of them. But he also was known as rather excitable when it came down to discoveries and possibilities of new knowledge to be learned.

The teacher cleared his throat and addressed the crowd of excited students, giving them a lecture about the importance of this assignment. "Today is the day when you will accomplish one of the most important tests of magical talent in your lives. I am talking of course about the Springtime Summoning Ritual, a tradition which has been practiced since the times of our founder Brimir six thousand years ago.

"As some of you know, the summoning spell must result in the arrival and binding of a familiar. A bond between a mage and their familiar is a sacred thing. It allows them to communicate without issue and, depending on the magical power of the caster, they can see and hear whatever the other is sensing. Now, without further ado, let the first student start their summoning."

One after another, the students began their rituals. The familiars summoned were, for the most part, normal animals such as snakes, dogs, frogs, cats, mice, even a giant mole; and other part of the summons was an assortment of various magical creatures that were rarely seen in the wild such as a bugbear, a dragon and in Kirche's case, a fire salamander.

"Whoa… a fire salamander." One student gawked.

"I've never seen one this close before." Another continued.

"It's so gorgeous." They kept singing praises.

"It's only fitting for my runic name. After all, I'm Kirche the Ardent."

From the mass of people, the pink-haired girl was quietly mulling if she could quietly slip away before they noticed that she hadn't participated yet. Slowly, she put a foot behind another as she tried to tiptoe backwards, away from the crowd.

"Now, is there anyone left?" Asked Mr. Colbert, looking over his students. A hand shot up, belonging to the most recent summoner.

"Actually, Mr. Colbert. Valliére is the only left." Said Kirche, with a confident smile on her.

The group of students separated, leaving Louise alone. Caught mid-step, she slumped her stance and slowly walked forward. As soon as she reached the center of the circle, the heckling began.

"Hey, try to not blow us up!"

"I bet she'll get a bug. Fitting for her!"

"Nah, I think she'll summon nothing"

"What if she summons just smoke?!"

"Then she'll get expelled like the Zero she is, Louise the-"

"SHUT UP!"

The mocking stopped at the shout of the fed up girl trying to concentrate to perform her spell. Her face was red from both anger and embarrassment. Her wand was almost at breaking point from the force she was gripping it with. Her entire body was trembling from the fear of failing, but also fueled with the desire of proving them wrong, to prove them that she was also a mage able to cast spells, to perform magic. At the disapproving stare from the teacher, the hecklers fell silent.

"You can go ahead, Miss Valliére."

She started her chant. She spent countless nights reading and studying books about the theory of the inner workings of the summoning spell, courtesy of her elder sister Eleanor. Even if the two of them were at odds most of the time, one thing her elder sister loved to do was to try to ingrain every piece of information possible to her littlest sister, after all if she wasn't useful practicing magic, then she could leave behind her peers in her grades.

"Sacred servant who lives beyond our known world." She inwardly smiled at the confused looks of the others, "My powerful, intelligent and wise familiar. Heed my call and appear!"

A gust of wind blew from outside the circle of students as they scrambled to the ground, looking for cover as they awaited the inevitable. A blinding light shone from the tip of her wand, making her close her eyes shut. A high-pitched whine rang across the school ground, deafening a few students. And finally, an explosion rocked the very ground as the spell ended.

*BOOM*

* * *

 **VOID**

The Void had no sense of time. Zeratul knew this and didn't care in wondering if he had spent a few minutes or years in this empty space. He sat cross-legged, floating amidst the dark fog and meditating. Waiting to start his new task.

Clutched in his arms, was the probe Tassadar gave him. It was smaller and way lighter than the ones he would see on the battlefield, yet he could tell that the components were the same, the materials were the same, but there was something different in it. He didn't know what it was, but it was there.

Interrupting his mental musings, he heard the voice of a young female echo from everywhere around him.

 **"Sacred servant who lives beyond the known world."**

 _"The time has come…."_

The protoss nodded silently and let the fog around him to envelop his form, ready to fold light around him on the new world. Being mindful of letting the mechanical unit out of his illusion. He made to look as if he got up, but without any ground to stand on, floating upright.

 _"Remember, Zeratul. You must guide your charge and teach her as you did for me. I will not be able to help you, I am needed somewhere else."_

"I understand, my friend. I will not disappoint you."

 _"Before you go. Here, take this as a farewell gift."_ A cumulus of black clouds condensed and shifted, changing into an item Zeratul knew very well. Reaching out a hand to grab the staff and activating the warp blade in the end.

"A Zer'atai scythe…" He whispered, mesmerized. It was one of the most used weapons by the Dark Templars of the Zer'atai, who hunted the zerg in Shakuras and donned armors fashioned out of their bones as trophies. Before he could thank Tassadar, the female voice continued its chant.

 **"My powerful, intelligent and wise familiar."** Zeratul turned off the scythe and braced himself for the transition.

 **"Heed my call and appear!"**

Swiftly, a green portal opened up in front of him and, in an unusual example of how vacuum shouldn't work, swallowed him and some of the fog around him. He had enough experience regarding warping from one point to another to avoid getting disoriented by the sudden change of scenario.

But he wasn't prepared for the concussive blast that sent him flying above a mass of terrans, making him drop the probe on the epicenter of the explosion. Luckily, he had a firmer grip on the shaft of his newly acquired weapon and his cloaking hadn't been compromised. Ignoring his new surroundings for the moment, he decided to check up on the mechanical being.

He rose up from the ground and blinked over the crowd of onlookers, who were intrigued at the dense cloud of black smoke and the young terran with pink hair who provoked it. Said pink haired girl was coughing the smoke out of her lungs and was wearing a uniform with a few missing spots and was gripping a wooden stick in her hand.

Once she stopped coughing, she blinked her eyes a few times and said something resembling a question in a language he hadn't heard before. Another terran, an adult one, responded in kind, a question of gibberish, but in a more controlled manner. The young one walked closer to the crater in front of her and slid slowly to the center. She knelt down and touched the probe, only to recoil and stick her finger in her mouth. She asked another thing to the adult and he nodded, pointing a stick similar to hers to the probe.

Tentatively, she touched the probe again. This time she didn't flinch and almost immediately broke into a grin. She nodded to the old one and pulled out her stick and tapped the golden chassis measuredly as she recited something. Then she did another thing that Zeratul didn't understand completely.

The young terran bent down and kissed the top of the lens of the probe.

The probe instantly turned on. Activating its propulsion engines and lightening up the lens in a brilliant pink light.

A bolt of cold lightning shot down his spine and he shuddered as engravings marked themselves on the golden unit.

Then he understood her next words, filled with happiness and a hint of confusion. She still didn't noticed his presence.

"You sure are an odd familiar… But what are you supposed to be?"


	3. Chapter 2 Observation

**Author Notes: Well. I appreciate the follows and the favorites and I want to thank you for them. However, I would like to get some more reviews (besides the ones asking for more chapters).**

 **This chapter is shorter than the last one and I apologise for it. I blame college and my own self-destructive procrastrination habits.**

 **Please, enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 2. Observation.

*BOOM*

Louise could only sigh at the result. Another explosion, another failure and another inevitable round of mockery. A fraction of a second later, the smoke followed suit. But this time, there was something different.

There was so much smoke. Too much even for her standards. The moment it seeped into her lungs it felt cold, dry and entirely unpleasant. She started coughing and waving her hand in front of her to fan away the offending gas. When suddenly, something shiny caught her attention.

The thing was half buried beneath the loose dirt her explosion caused. Worry blossomed in her mind as she noticed it was something made of gold. She dreaded it was the remains of one of the various ornaments her classmates like to wear so much. While she did dislike the other students up to the point of wanting physical harm on them, she certainly didn't want to either cripple nor kill any of them. Not even the Zerbst.

Pushing away the worst case scenario from her head, she turned to ask her teacher, who was still dazed from being too near to the blast. "Professor Colbert! Is everyone alright?"

Colbert dusted himself and looked at the group. While one or two of them fainted and some more were disoriented, they didn't show anything other than light scrapes and some serious cases of disheveled hair.

"Do not worry, Miss Valliére. All of the students are fine and accounted for. Now, are you well enough to finish the ritual? It was quite the amount of energy you just used."

"Yes, I'm more than ready to continue. I am a Valliére after all!" She exclaimed with an air of confidence, more to reassure herself rather than anyone else. With her head held high, she gracefully ignored the eyerolls of her peers. She approached carefully to the edge of the crater, her power made manifest, and peered at the thing she brought from beyond.

Even as it was under the dirt and whatever remains of grass that was growing there half a minute ago, the gold of its shell shone brightly in the sunlight. It had a weird, single eyeball in the middle of its body, it was black and opaque and resembled glass. But glass, enchanted or not, couldn't have endured the blast. The overall shape was one of a fish, but rounder and it just seemed too perfect, too symmetrical to be natural. Also, there was a strange opening behind the fin on top of its body. Maybe it was for swimming faster?

" _Oh no! Maybe I summoned a fish and it's drowning!"_ She summarized, but instead of letting panic get the best of her, she remained calm and collected. The least thing she wanted right now was to freak out in front of her classmates and give them another reason to laugh at her. In a more hurried pace, she approached the unknown being and pulled out her wand.

She cleared her throat and started the binding spell, tapping the head of the thing with her wand and saying:

"My name is Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliére! Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being and make it my familiar." She bent down and kissed the top of its head.

* * *

[System Reboot]

[Macintoss OS v. 200145-XN active]

[Plasma shields: Online]

[Propulsion system: Online]

[Sample gathering mechanism: Online]

[Location: Unknown]

[Emergency Recall: Not available]

[Automatic psionic feedback activation: True/False? True – Sending automatically gathered information to any psionically sensitive entity in the area.

-Designated area: 5 light year radius.

-Data emission rate: 800Tb per second.]

[-WARNING-]

[Foreign command request. Negative protoss genetic material – Scanning lifeform. 99% matching terran DNA. 1% unidentified DNA) – Ignore command: True/False? Tr*********** False.

-Foreign command request accepted – Accessing: (Frontal Lobe).

-ID: Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliére (Rank: Executor).

-Designated unit color: Pink.

-Written language updated. Dialect updated.]

[Searching for protoss signatures.

-One protoss signature found. Nerazim. Not hostile. Lifeform too far away to identify.]

[Analyzing data and establishing correspondent protocol]

[Enable Last Stand Protocol: True/False? True]

[-WARNING-]

[No minerals available. No vespene gas available. – Notify immediate Executor.]

* * *

As soon as she finished her spell, the thing suddenly started floating. Its sole eye lit up in a pink light, a color not unlike her favorite one. It chirped, managing to sound like a bird. An underwater bird covered in metal, but it chirped nonetheless. Finally, the expected familiar runes appeared on top of its eye with a sizzling noise and a blue, shimmering glow around its body.

"You are an odd familiar. Now, what are you supposed to be?" She wondered, cocking her head to the side.

The thing. Her familiar, she corrected, reached up to her navel while it seemed to levitate as it hummed like a hummingbird. It didn't have any wings to flap, but at this point she couldn't care less as she came to the realization that she now had a familiar.

"Professor Colbert, I did it!" She exclaimed, with excitement clear in her voice.

He nodded and said, "Indeed you did, Miss Valliére. And while your execution could have been much cleaner, you successfully summoned and bound your familiar." He took a glance at the strange floating thing. An eyebrow rose at the sight of the runes engraved on its shell.

That and the strange insignia already marked on it before the binding. It looked like a feathered wing surrounding the right side of a small circle. In all his life, he had never seen such a strange symbol.

Content with her results, Louise turned back to see the crowd of slack-jawed students looking in fascination at her familiar. She was ready to saying an 'I told you so' at them until one of them spoke up.

"Look! Louise the Zero summoned a piece of junk!" It was a student with a dog, trying to come up with anything to belittle her feat. Soon enough, more of them followed suit. But not all of them as they just kept either admiring their familiars or just waited for Louise's reaction.

However, instead of listening to them, she ignored their words. She settled with placing a hand against the cold shell of her familiar. She felt it hum as it chirped once again and turned its eye to her, as if awaiting a command. Louise turned back to Mr. Colbert and calmly asked.

"Professor Colbert, are we done for today?"

The professor, snapped out of his own musings and looking disapprovingly at his students, answered. "Yes, Miss Valliére. I will be heading to the library if any of you needs me. Class is dismissed!"

Most of the students were on their way by levitating back to their rooms or the mess hall as it was well over noon by the time the summons were finished. One of them, Guiche, looked back to throw one last barb before leaving the scene.

"Well, it looks like even the Zero's familiar knows how to levitate better than her!" His words catching a few giggles of some of the girls and laughs from some of his friends. Next to him, Kirche drove a not too friendly elbow at his side, shutting him up. It went unnoticed by most except for Tabitha, who only rose a corner of her lips into a ghost of a smile.

Once the flock of students disappeared from sight, the professor Colbert went to make his way to the library, not before stopping by Louise and told her.

"I am quite impressed by your familiar. Never in my life had I expected to see a creature such as this. Do you happen to know what it is?"

"I have no idea, Professor Colbert. I'm as lost as you are." She gently petted the creature beside her and continued looking at it in a quizzical manner, "Maybe there's something in the archives about it?"

"I wouldn't think it unreasonable." He began to walk away, "Make sure to notify me if something goes amiss with it."

As soon as she saw him enter the building, she walked back to the same tree she spent this morning with that nice maid and slid down to her knees. Her familiar not too behind her as it lowered itself to be eye to eye. She looked at it and wondered if it could understand her. In theory, the familiar runes were able to make an animal more intelligent, or at least intelligent enough to make it understand simple commands and in the case of powerful mages, to be able to communicate the core of its thoughts with their master.

But right now, she didn't want a conversation rather to reassure herself that she managed to o a spell right for the first time in her life. Where should joy and happiness be, there was only doubt at her sudden success. " _What if it was just a fluke? Maybe they are right and I just summoned a golem."_

Golems, in the simplest way of the word, were mostly constructs made from rocks, dirt, and in some cases, metal. All of them were made on a whim and didn't count as proper familiars as they only lasted a certain period of time and required a constant flow of Willpower to keep them 'alive'. But that couldn't be it! Her familiar was here and she wasn't feeling drained in any way, shape or form despite the fact that it was made of gold and glass. Heck, she didn't even know the proper spell to make one that floated.

Placing her palm against the lens, she muttered. "Are you really my familiar? Please tell me this isn't some kind of sick joke."

A chirp and a beep was the only response and while she didn't understand it, the tone in which it was delivered told her everything she needed to know. She smiled, rose up to her feet and brushed off whatever dirt and blades of grass marring her legs. She gestured the creature to follow her back to the academy.

" _Now that I think about it. How should I call you?"_

Honestly, she was sure this day would turn out to be worse.

* * *

Zeratul kept watching the interaction between the pink terran and the rest of the individuals making fun of her. He, as a Dark Templar himself, knew how living as an outcast changed people. Most of the times, for the worst. The petty insults were thrown at the child unwarrantedly and without any foundation that he could gleam from their brief interaction with one another.

However, this wasn't the most pressing issue in Zeratul's mind. It was, of course, the fact that the young one managed to turn the probe to her will with little effort on her part. He looked over the probe many times during his stay in the Void, it didn't have any switches, physical nor psionic, and it didn't even have any energy to sustain the electricity feedback generator. This meant that the girl could have done something with her so called 'magic' that affected the probe in a unique way.

At least the transmitter inside the probe worked correctly and helped him translate the local's language.

By the moment the students went _flying_ into the school building, he could only stare in disbelief at the strange capabilities these terrans possessed. Of course, one with enough psionic power could easily float, albeit slowly and by no more than a foot in height, such as the High Templars and the Archons. Granted, the latter ones having no other method of transportation as they didn't have any legs. Maybe the power they wielded was very different from what he was used to.

The animals, too, occupied a few curious thoughts within him. True, some of them were fairly simple and lacked any important capabilities if the files he 'liberated' from data banks in the Hyperion regarding the terran home world. Earth. But there were a few of them that caught his eye, such as the giant winged lizard and the 'fire salamander' as they called it. It was no surprise there as to why they didn't dwell anymore on the existence of the probe.

It was after the older terran, Professor Colbert, left the area, Zeratul followed Louise to her sitting spot beneath a tree where she kept petting the probe. He could only sigh at the intent of her thoughts flowing from her psyche. One didn't have to be a Khalai to know what her feelings were like; hatred, doubt, fear and perhaps some shreds of hope beneath all that.

It was his mission to help her, after all. But before he could present himself to her, the most prudent decision might be to do so in a place with no onlookers and after getting to know more about this place through some silent observation.

He blinked past the walls of the school and followed the path to the nearest town. Hopefully he would be back by sundown, give or take an hour or so if this world's rotation movement span was to be correctly assumed.

The flora and fauna was, for the most part, untouched by civilizations in the space between towns. He thought back to the many worlds he had travelled to, in either missions, exploration or looking somewhere to meditate during the centuries. The vast majority of them were barren of life, others full of lava or poisonous gas, some showed the beginnings of life enduring the harshest of environments their planets could offer. But there were very few worlds which boasted such lush forests and variety of animals and even fewer had civilizations, as primitive as they were, that were born naturally and without the need of foreign remains of the three most advanced races in the Koprulu sector. If he wanted this planet to be free from whatever danger was threatening it, he would do his best in guiding his new charge.

His arrival to the town was fairly tranquil as no one noticed him walking around the wide streets and on the rooftops as he observed the quiet way of life of this terrans, relatively to their Koprulu contra parts. The establishments were selling their wares, a few carriages and wagons rolled by with either merchandise or people, children played without a care and the older ones, barely teenagers by the looks of them, helped the adults as apprentices to their businesses. All in all, a quaint little town in comparison of the golden cities of the protoss of the days of old and the expansive and heavily industrialized cities of the terran Dominion.

Despite the amount of people living here, no one was doing anything out of what he had seen back in the academy. No one was carrying a wand, or casting spells for that matter, wearing fancy clothes nor interacting with fantastical beasts. Everyone here was ordinary, modest, unassuming. Common.

It was then when he saw it. The castle acting as a beacon for everyone to look at. A white, almost glowing, construction of solid foundations, with great walls surrounding the towers within. It followed the same cues as the 'medieval times' as the terrans put it in terms of aesthetics, with the grandeur and safety a king should deserve.

But for him, it was an easily accessible structure with little to no ways to hinder his entrance. To be fair, the detection required to be able to see invisible units was only achieved through technology hundreds of years beyond them or biology specially evolved to do so. And they had none, unsurprisingly.

By the looks of it, the interior of the castle would take him a day to learn every nook and cranny of the place. The day was soon to end and the journey to the academy from here would take him an hour or so, if he wanted to show himself to Louise, he should leave before she managed to start some problems with the probe. Her probe.

* * *

Back at the academy, the young Valliére was sitting in her bed admiring her familiar. Well, more than admiring, just contemplating the strange way it floated about and looked at her things while emitting an even stranger blue light from its eye to whatever it was staring at. It didn't scare her more than it made her wonder if her familiar was something that resembled any animal on Halkeginia. She spent most of the afternoon in the library searching in every book related to zoology and she kept drawing blanks as to what in Brimir's name she summoned. She was very close to sending a letter to her sister Cattleya asking her if by any chance she knew what it was.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't sent a letter to her in a very long time. It would be nice if she were to get in contact and tell her about her summoning ritual. _"Sure, it ended with an unexpected result, but it worked. That had to count for something."_

As she rummaged through her belongings in her drawer and took a piece of parchment and looked for a quill with a bottle of ink, she heard the window of her room open, startling her. She turned her eye to her familiar, but it seemed to be watching under the bed, still looking for something. Walked to the window and closed it, passing it off as just the wind playing games with her already exhausted mind.

She went back to her drawer and pulled out a closed bottle of ink. After all, she already had the quill and the parchment on the desk. She paused, staring at the feathery writing instrument.

"Wait… When did I get the quill?" She wondered to herself.

She looked in every direction, looking for any intruders. The door was locked, so it couldn't be any of the maids. Even then, how could they have known she was looking for the quill for that matter?

"Ok, just calm down, Louise. You just had a long and very productive day and you just need to relax and remember what mother said about someone slipping in your room." She said to herself, trying to calm herself down. Taking a deep breath, she turned her back to the door, pulled out her wand and said aloud.

"Show yourself and I promise not to blow you up harder than necessary!" She pointed her wand in the general direction of the window and waited for a response. The only one being the quiet hum of her familiar probing around her drawer full of underwear, taking away most of the seriousness behind her threat, much to her annoyance.

It was when she took a step back and she bumped into something that wasn't her door she forgot everything her mother told her and any regards of self-preservation. She turned on her heels and half a second later she casted a spell, whichever came to her first.

"FIREBALL!"

*BOOM*

Thankfully the doors were heavily reinforced as the staff was getting nervous of having to work in a place where young mages could cast spells that could potentially destroy school property and hurt someone by accident. So it withstood the blast with barely a fine sheet of soot as evidence of the spell.

When the smoke started to dissipate, she watched at her surroundings. She was on the other side of her room, but she didn't walk there. She was just there.

Then, something shifted from the remains of the smoke. It was tall, more than seven feet tall, maybe eight. It wore scraps of cloth and jeweled metal as armor and whatever places that weren't covered showed grey and wrinkled skin. What she assumed was the face was bare of any mouth, nose or ears, but it had a pair of green lights where the eyes should be. The few hair it had was a braid cut at no longer than a few inches from the scalp. The legs had the resemblance as to the ones of a bird and the arms were so long it reached to the knees. A staff hung to the back as it was a sword.

Saying it was alien in nature was an understatement.

And so, she did the only thing her exhausted brain could do.

"AAAAAAAAH!" *drop*


	4. Chapter 3 Revelation

**Author Notes: Here is another chapter. I'm glad this story is of your liking and I really hope I am able to keep entertaining you as long as I write.**

 **lucas the first: I'm thinking on using most of the units from both BroodWar and the multipalyer, as much as I'd like to make an immortal blow ships out of the sky, it would make it more complicated for me to explain how. Even now I'm trying to find a way to create the Nexus. Now, I'll try to upload this story once every two weeks, most likely on a saturday night or sunday afternoon. If I can't do it for some reason or another I'll leave a memo on my bio.**

 **AsouShibata: Yes, a lot later. Regarding to the story, I'll try to change a few things here and there while following some of the most important plot points. Then again, what fun there is in fanfiction if I don't change a few things? :3**

 **mega1987: That's splash damage for you.**

 **Ronmr: I will.**

* * *

Chapter 3. Revelation.

"Ughh…What happened?"

Louise opened her eyes drowsily. The back of her head hurt and her neck felt a bit stiff, she turned her head slowly to the sides and flinched at the dull throbbing of her left arm, apparently she kept her weight over it while she slept.

Raising the top of her body with her elbows, she uncovered herself from her blanket and saw that she was still in her room. Her familiar was there looking at the corner of her bed in the same way it kept staring at things in such illustrious amazement. But then she noticed a few things weren't as they should be.

She was still wearing her uniform, her door was covered in soot and it was still nighttime if the window was to be believed.

Slightly thrown off by these details, she got up from her bed and walked barefoot to the middle of her room. She approached the barely damaged door and touched it. For some reason, she casted a spell directly to it. _"But why"_

" _You panicked, young one."_

She almost jumped out of her skin as an old, wizened voiced echoed in her mind. She turned around to see a very familiar creature. It was standing next to the window as it looked at her impassively.

"Y-y-you…" She stuttered, unable to come up with anything. The tall being walked slowly as to not scare her more than she already was. Which turned out to be almost impossible if her trembling was something to go by.

"I am Zeratul. En Taro Tassadar, young one." It-He, for the voice she heard, said, as he placed a hand on his chest. Just now she noticed the big, sharp nails in each of his four fingered hands.

She walked backwards and backed herself to the door. Her shaky knees unwilling to run and her tense arms unable to open her only means of escape. Mustering whatever bravery she had in her body, she asked. "What are you?"

Straightening his posture and showing her his true height, he answered, "I am a Dark Templar, of the Protoss." Sensing her fear, possibly at the natural ambiguity of his title, he continued. "There is no need for fear, for I am not here to cause harm to you nor anything or anyone you care for."

"How do I know you are not lying?"

"Because it would undermine my purpose of being here, Louise."

Her eyes, which were closed during the exchange, sprung open at the mention of her name. She didn't recall telling him her name, yet he for some reason knew it already. Her fear pushed aside by curiosity, she asked in rapid succession. "How do you know my name? Why are you even here? How did you know I was here?"

With as much patience as he could show, he began by gesturing at the probe sitting in the middle of the room. "There is so much to tell you and most of it must be heard with an open mind. But the key factor in our meeting is the very thing that you have summoned here."

"My familiar? Start making sense, Zer-erh… whatever your name is!" She ordered.

"Indeed. What you call familiar is something my people have been relying on for centuries." Patting the top of the mechanical being, he continued, "This is a probe. It gathers resources and analyses environmental matter. As you can see, it searches for anything that can be of use and registers whatever findings it manages to scan."

Louise remembered how this 'probe' kept looking at random things earlier today and bathing them with a dim light. She quietly nodded and stayed silent as he waited for him to keep talking.

"Probes are usually sent to new planets to create bases to establish new colonies and to set foothold during an aggressive approach. In some rare cases, they can find indigenous intelligent lifeforms and the probes are recalled back. We leave said world untouched until they are ready to step into the stars."

"Wait, I mean…" She paused, her head was already spinning with the things he was telling her. Other worlds, civilizations in those worlds, travel among the stars? "This doesn't make any sense at all! Are you really saying there are others out there, in space?"

"Of course, young one. I have visited countless of worlds and learned life is a fickle phenomenon. Imagine whatever landscape you know of this world and you may find another composed entirely of said environment. And in most of them, life has a way to adapt and grow to their whims." By now, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor in a non-threatening pose. "But so very few manage to find the spark of wisdom like both our species."

Her familiar, floated over to her as she stood there listening to the alien creature. By now, she was wondering if this was some kind of weird dream induced by eating too much celebratory cake at dinner. Having done a spell correctly made her want to do something special today, but maybe it was a mistake and now she was in this situation.

"I must tell you, young one. This is not a dream in any way, shape nor form." Stated Zeratul, as if reading her mind. "And yes, on some degree I know what you are thinking. You can thank your probe for it."

"What?! How?"

"At your side is a tool that can change the course of history in your civilization. Whether it is for good or evil is up to your decisions from this day onwards." He explained, "Your familiar is, eventually, able to generate technology more advanced than what your kind could even imagine in thousands of years, to warp in armies that can burn the surface of your world to glass, to hand you the means to reach beyond the stars and expand your kingdom without limits. As you are now the only one who can use it, you must know the consequences of your actions now and tomorrow, and there is no easy way to make you aware of such responsibility other than to explain this sensible information to you."

By the time Zeratul finished, she fell eerily quiet. Her breathing was the only sound in the room as her fists clenched painfully, turning her knuckles as white as her blood-drained face. She didn't know what to do, what to say, how to respond as she kept hoping this was a dream, or nightmare, fabricated by some sort of who-knows-what.

On one side, if what she was told was true, she could use this probe to get back at the ones who kept dissing her here and make them apologize to her and to start appreciating her. But this course of action didn't sit well with her. What would sister Cattleya think of her? Her mother? The Princess?

Before she could keep dwelling on this train of thought, Zeratul's voice caught her attention once again.

"It is because you are in this situation that I am willing to watch over you. To guide you and follow your bidding, within reason, as you grow in knowledge and power." Gesturing to the probe once again, he said. "As a first lesson, I must tell you that the probe is not a living being and does not need neither sleep, nor nourishment. As long as it stays under the exposure of your sun it will accumulate energy for further use."

"…Ok." While her mental turmoil was slightly diminished, yet not completely solved, she took the tip on how to take care of her familiar rather useful. It did explain why it didn't want to eat or drink earlier in the day. "Is there something else?"

The alien nodded, "Indeed. Addressing one of your concerns, the probe is able to reach within your mind and extract information that it deems fundamental and broadcast it to whoever is psionically sensitive in the area, you can tell it to stop whenever you like."

"Wait, you mean anyone can hear what I think right now?" She asked worriedly as she clutched her head in her hands subconsciously.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. The readings the probe is transmitting say that there is only one person in the vicinity who can hear your thoughts, other than us of course. However, they are likely to be asleep at this hour.

"Now, command your probe to stop the automatic emergency broadcast procedure." He told her.

Nodding, the young Valliére cleared her throat and ordered. "Familiar: Stop the automatic emergency broadcast procedure!"

Her familiar beeped twice before flickering the light of its lenses. Other than that, nothing else seemed to happen at the moment.

Hesitantly, Louise asked, "Did it work?"

"It must have, young one. But we seem to have a problem."

"What is it, Zer… er. What was your name, again?"

"Zeratul, but that is not what I was talking about. I sense someone outside the door, whoever it is, they must have been there for a few minutes."

Before Louise could ask if he was sure, a knock on the door went behind her, accompanied by a voice she had started to get familiar with.

"Um… Miss Valliére, are you alright? Miss Von Zerbst went to call me saying there was an explosion and there's soot under your door."

* * *

"Are you sure of this Jean?"

"I'm at least a 90% sure the runes coincide, Headmaster."

In the headmaster's office, an old man with a long, white beard smoking from a pipe had been listening to his longtime friend, Jean Colbert, about the anomaly that happened today during this year's summoning rituals. Apparently one of the second year students summoned something that no one had ever seen before and the runes marked unto it meant somewhat disturbing news.

Osmond, headmaster of Tristain Academy of Magic, let out a puff of smoke as he leaned back in his chair. He looked over the drawing of the rune that Colbert scribbled out earlier and asked him. "And you say it was the Valliére child who did this?"

"Yes, Headmaster. If my hypothesis is correct, then it would explain why she hadn't been able to find her element."

"I really hope you are wrong about this, Jean." He inhaled again from his pipe and continued as smoke rose from his mouth, most of it filtered by his beard, "Because if what you are saying is true, then we must be careful as to not reveal this information to anyone, not even young Louise. At least not yet."

Despite the evidence presented to him by Colbert, there was one thing that didn't make sense to the headmaster. "Although the results of your investigation are undeniable, there is one detail I can't wrap my mind around. How is it possible that her familiar is the legendary Gandarlf?"

"I'm afraid I don't follow, Headmaster."

"What I'm saying is, if the Gándarfl is the familiar who can wield all kinds of weaponry, how is the familiar of Louise able to do so? By your description, it didn't seem to have the physiology required to use a weapon."

Nodding, the professor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I know, that is why I am only 90% sure of this whole debacle. Until I confirm this is completely what I fear it is, we'll need to keep an eye on her."

Unbeknownst to either of the men, the assistant of the headmaster heard every word from her place behind a wall.

* * *

"Miss Valliére, are you alright? I heard voices coming from your room." Said Siesta as she knocked on the door, a basket of laundry was beside her as she waited for a response. She was about to wash the final batch of clothes before the Germanian noble, Kirche Von Zerbst, called her out from a window in the tower she resided in. She didn't question the fact that they had called her specifically when surely there was another servant closer to where the noblewoman was. She just obeyed as her station demanded her to do so.

However, as she climbed up the staircase, she heard some strange noises from somewhere. She didn't know where they were coming from, as the only things around her were the stairs that followed the curvature of the tower and a few torches lightening her path with their smokeless fire. Said noises didn't sound like the usual things she would hear on some nights, there were no giggles from girls gossiping about, no whispers of sweet nothings from some of the boys trying to woo a classmate, except for Guiche who was back at the main floor, and there was no other set of footsteps rather than her own as she went by.

She only heard a voice. It was unnatural, yet it didn't strike her as malevolent, it was like someone was trying to say very convoluted words through an empty can. Saying things about denying reality as a dream and, strangely enough, asking for minerals and some kind of gas. The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once, it grew stronger as she neared the top of the stairs until it suddenly stopped.

Her hands hurt for some reason. She glanced down and realized her grip on the basket she was carrying was too strong, she inhaled deeply and hefted it to adjust the weight and make it more comfortable for her to carry around. By the time she reached Miss Von Zerbst's bedroom door, she was somewhat relaxed, if not a bit nervous about what had just transpired.

"Miss Von Zerbst, do you require something?" She asked politely as she gently knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal the redhead wearing a nightgown that barely covered her bodacious figure. Siesta couldn't help the blush growing on her face as she saw the young noblewoman standing there in front of her. But there was something amiss with the germanian, her usual smirk was replaced with a worried look as she fiddled with the hem of the bottom of her nightwear.

Quietly, Kirche said. "Yes, my neighbor over here just started blowing things up a few minutes ago. Can you please go there and find out if she's alright?"

Hearing this earned a curious interest to pique in Siesta's mind. She, as most of the staff in the academy, was aware of the animosity between the Louise and Kirche and this request from the redhead was the last thing she expected to hear from either one of them. Hiding her surprised expression with a bow, she departed to the next room over.

And now here she was, in front of a slightly bent door with dark smudges covering the floor underneath it, the voice of an agitated Miss Valliére coming from behind said door and listening to things that weren't there. Certainly, this was not how she expected this day to end.

Knocking on the door, she cleared her throat and said, "Um… Miss Valliére, are you alright? Miss Von Zerbst went to call me saying there was an explosion and there's soot under your door."

"Oh no. Quick, Zeratul, hide!" She turned from the sound of the maid only to find empty space where the elderly alien used to be. Not wanting to question it and overloading her already convoluted mental stability, she called out to respond. "I'm fine! I'm just… uh, talking to my familiar?"

"Are you sure, Miss Valliére? From what I heard, there was quite the commotion transpiring tonight in your dwellings." Siesta said, with uncharacteristic eloquence. Which caused the pink haired girl to fall quiet for a few seconds.

"Yes, I'm fine. I got startled by my familiar and I accidentally exploded the door." Louise said, a bit bitterly at having to make up an excuse that used her inherent inability to cast magic correctly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The young girl closed her eyes and remembered her talk with the maid earlier today. Maybe she could help her get her mind off tonight's disturbing revelations.

"Yeah… Let me open the door." After she did so, she let Siesta come in with her basket of laundry. The maid looked over at the wall surrounding the entrance and gasped at the sight of cracks threatening to split some of the stone bricks. Siesta saw from the corner of her eye at the small girl, who had a pensive expression as if brooding over something.

Back home, in Tarbes, she used to do the same thing whenever she talked with her grandfather about some of his stories from when he met her grandmother. Occasionally asking him about the meaning of some words he would say, or if most of the things he told her actually happened and were not some delirious thoughts that old men seemed to have from time to time.

"So… Have you already named your familiar?"

"Um… No, I don't think I have. I cannot find a name for it. For all I know, it doesn't even have a gender." Commented Louise, thinking back on what Zeratul told her about this probe. Of course, it wouldn't be prudent on her part to star calling it 'probe'. It would raise more than a few eyebrows and get unwanted attention.

"Oh, that's not too bad. Surely you'll find one sooner or later" Placing her basket on the floor, she asked. "Do you have any dirty laundry you wish for me to clean?"

Louise went over her drawer where her familiar just recently searched over her underwear in its quest for knowledge. While there was nothing dirty, most of the clothes were either crumpled or strewn around in disarray. She told Siesta so and then went back to talk with the maid about possible names for her familiar.

* * *

Hidden from sight on his place in the open window, Zeratul watched over both of them as they shared words. There was so many things he had to tell Louise, all of them important. He knew that misinformation was a dangerous thing, but he would take his time. From what he learned by overhearing some of the students say in his brief stay, the day of Void was soon to come. While the name of said day was a little coincidental, to say the least, to the Nerazim, he could take advantage of it to further explain his role as long as she was under his charge.

After all, he was certain the young one would have a cardiac arrest if he told her about the Void energy he sensed in her soul.


	5. Chapter 4 Probelems

**Author Notes: Gah! Final weeks of school before I go to "vacations" I'll be doing some intership stuff thingies during summer and is going to be rather unpleasant to my creative mindscape. But worry not! I'll keep my update schedule the same as always. Perhaps even surprise you with a surprise chapter here and there :3**

 **And wow... over a hundred follows, I am so happy that you are liking the story so far. It makes me want to see this through to the end, moreso than I originally wanted, I always get disheartened when there is a good story left unfinished for years and it's even worse when it ends with a cliffhanger of a chapter.**

 **Anyway... Into the reviews:**

 **morganoth: Honestly, I'm very bad at naming things. If more people want the probe to become the hero, the chosen one, the unparalleled probe among probes, Probius. Then I might consider it. Until then I'll be accepting suggestion on names for the familiar.**

 **slayer of the abyss: Thank you, mr slayer. Yeah, it is rather hard to make a harem for a probe.**

 **Me Myself and I, A-Non-Knee-Moose: I'll expand more on the idea of having her playing a biggish role on the story. Frankly, when I started writing the story I didn't intend on Siesta becoming a character with such importance (As of today, I'll add her tag on the story). After all, I needed something for Louise to get involved with the duel and Count Mott's debacle by having her care for Siesta. And finally, I completely forgot the situation regarding Raynor's son (and I kicked myself for forgetting it when I read it) but I had something else planned instead.**

 **susasingdalex, Quelthias, Slavok and A-Non-Knee-Moose: First of all, mr Slavok, I like to refer to him as the equivalent of space-ninja-Jesus. Now, the ghost of Tassadar, it's important that detail because it will come up in a few chapters when Louise manages to get a hold of something that will let her start a proper base, jumpstart her unit production and the manpower required to do so. I will tell you this, remember when the Spear of Adun was presented in the protoss campaign? I'm thinking on having something similar when it comes to having protoss in Halkeginia to warp around while being separated from the Koprulu sector. Oh, and before I forget it, mr Moose (may I call you that?) remember that the probe has Louise assigned as an executor due to the data corruption from the familiar binding.**

 **And of course, the reveal of Zeratul to the other students is near and I appretiate when an author puts genuine thought to those kind of moments. That culture shock is the reason I love fanfiction so much, having entire universes meeting with different degrees of reactions and interpretations of the other side.**

 **P.S. I kinda feel that the conversations I write feel too, i don't know, stiff? I can write movement and mannerisms just fine, but it's the conversations where I feel I tend to fixate myself on one thing and struggle to move into another subject. Am I crazy or is it just me?**

* * *

Chapter 4. Probelems.

It was past midnight and Siesta had excused herself from Louise's room, as she still had work to do and would surely meant losing a few hours of sleep tonight if she wanted to wake up early. On her way downstairs, she paid attention to each and every step she took on the stairs, as her sleepy eyes weren't the most trustworthy guides in the darkened areas of the tower.

She took notice of the lack of the metallic voice in her head, replaced instead with the soft chirping of crickets and muffled giggles of some of the first year students sneaking into each other's rooms during their improvised sleepovers, or so she hoped. While she didn't know what it was of where it came from, she was certainly curious about it. At least it would leave her with something to think about while she did the mind-numbing task of doing laundry.

The other thing she was rather confused about was the familiar of Louise. As it was nothing no one had ever seen roaming in Halkeginia, it deserved a name no one in Halkeginia had ever heard. It had to be special. Siesta thought back on the talk she had with the young noble.

* * *

It was a few minutes into the beginning of the brainstorming for names for the unnamed familiar, which was merely floating in the corner of the room as it watched the girls speak. The suggestions came in both quantity and variety, the youngest of the Valliére was very clear on the fact that it had to be an original name, nothing anyone had ever heard in Halkeginia. Something unique.

Louise sighed and rested her chin on her hands, "What about 'Goldshell'? No, too obvious. Everyone would accuse me of being unoriginal."

"I thought you did not care about what they said about you, Miss Valliére."

"And I don't, I just want my familiar to have the most special name of them all. Something new and incomparable." She flopped herself back onto her bed as she brought her hands to cover her eyes. On one hand, it felt great to have a familiar after her string of failures and disappointments in her life, but that didn't take away what it meant to have this particular one. Something that could spell the beginning of a new era demanded a name that inspired awe and admiration from anyone who heard it.

Just thinking about the reach of the consequences of her actions from now on made her stomach queasy.

"Miss Valliére, I noticed you seem quite bothered tonight. Are you alright?" Siesta asked, inching forward to the bed where Louise was sitting on.

The younger girl nodded, not making eye contact with the maid before her and said, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Siesta didn't buy it, so she pressed on. "Miss Valliére, remember that as a member of the staff of the academy, your well-being is part of my responsibility. I am here to listen, my mother always said that talking about your problems can help."

"Siesta, how do you think I feel being what I am right now?"

"Beg your pardon?" Asked the bewildered maid, not expecting this question at all.

"Being a failure, the black sheep of the one of the most powerful families in Tristain. A Zero."

Thinking hard about it, she said. "Well… I know it must feel horrible. But from what I heard from the other maids here, I believe you're under a lot of pressure and you feel alone…" She trailed off, not wanting to continue.

Louise merely nodded and sat up. "That is mostly it." She sighed once again and tried to figure out what to say to the maid. "I am alone in this place. No one wants to talk to me other than to insult me, no one wants to be my friend because they don't want a magicless zero like me near them and I am getting tired of Zerbst and her flaunting herself off to every male in this school to spite me.

"I just want to have someone to be my friend and my familiar is the closest thing I have to a friend." Siesta felt a pang at this.

"I can be your friend." Said the maid. She then continued with a faint smile. "As far as I know, familiars are completely loyal, but I bet none of them can hold a good conversation, right?"

"I don't want you to pity me. What would you gain from this anyway?" Louise asked, staring at the floor, deflated.

"The only thing I want right now is for you to stop kicking yourself." She declared, "My grandfather told me there was nothing worse than people who didn't believe in themselves."

"You keep mentioning him. I suppose he was a big influence for you, am I right?" Louise asked, trying to change the course of this conversation.

"Yes, he often told me stories of strange creatures he would hunt down and capture for his employers." Siesta said, turning her eyes to the side, remembering some of them.

"Was he a hunter of some sort?" Said the young pinkette. Usually young noblemen hired more experienced hunters as guides to help them track down animals to hunt or tame. But most of the time, those hunters would be of noble descent, using magic to better their chances at capturing their prey. As it stood out, Siesta's grandfather must had been a very skilled one if he didn't wield any magic at all.

Siesta nodded, "Something of the sort. From what he told me, he came from a place beyond the elven lands. He would tell me about these beasts, unique to any animal in the land, be it by appearance or capabilities."

Now interested by these details, Louise asked her to continue.

"And the people he worked for wanted those creatures to study them. But one day, while he was off to hunt something called a 'Lurker', he got lost and ended up here in Tristain. He stumbled into Tarbes and then he met my grandmother and then he decided to stay there." Siesta finished with a smile on her face, "Before he passed away, he left me a book with some of his notes on those creatures. He must had been very brave if the drawings he made of them are to be believed."

"Do you still have it? The book, I mean." Asked the young Valliére, with the curiosity of an awestruck child.

"Yes, but I don't have it on my person right now. Maybe some other time I could show it to you." Then a sly grim came to Siesta's face. "But only if you agree to let me be your friend. Deal?"

Her curiosity outweighing her suspicion, she conceded with the maid's offer. Then something crossed her mind, "To whom did your grandfather worked for?"

Waving a hand, she said dismissively, "Oh, some foundation that did some research on animal behavior or something like that."

Then, the shuffling of clothing and the beeping of her familiar interrupted whatever she was going to say as a response. "If I turn around and find out you are still doing that, Brimir knows I will not be merciful with you, you thing!" She yelled, annoyed at its antics.

"May I suggest the name of Peeper?" Said the maid, trying to cover her giggles with a hand at the sight of her newly found friend muttering under her breath in clear annoyance.

"Don't push it, Siesta. Or I might take you up on that thought." Grumbled the youngest girl as she crossed her arms.

"I'm only proposing ideas, Miss Valliére. It can't be helped if I find myself having some fun out of it."

"Ugh… How about you stop proposing things and tell me more about that foundation. Does it have a name?" Said Louise, trying to forget about her, in her opinion, offensive and rude familiar. But as soon as her own words escaped her lips, her eyes snapped open and a grin placed itself on her.

"I don't quite remember. My grandfather told me once and never repeated it again." She yawned and blinked her eyes a few times. "Oh dear. What time is it?"

"Um… I don't know. I think it's past midnight by now." Guessed Louise, surprised at noticing how late it was. "I'm sorry, Siesta. I didn't want to keep you from your duties for so long."

"Don't worry about it, Miss Valliére." The maid then rubbed her eyes, "I'm getting used to going to bet late, but I will have to cut this visit short." She went to pick up her basket and headed for the door. Louise went ahead of her and opened the door for her, surprising the maid for such a gesture. "Are we meeting tomorrow morning again?"

"Of course, have a good night, Siesta." Said the young girl, a bit guilty about letting her newfound friend work at such ghastly hour.

"Likewise, Miss Valliére."

Not before reaching the stairs, she could hear Louise talking about not deciding on a name for her familiar yet.

* * *

When she finished remembering the conversation not too long ago, she blinked a few times and found herself with a basket of wet clothes ready to be hanged outside of one of the towers where she usually washed the clothes. Realizing she had spaced out for so long, she went to finish her duties. After all, the sooner she went to bed, the longer her rest would be.

Unknown to her, Zeratul watched from the safety of the shadows, pondering on the potential the peculiar one brought to his charge.

* * *

The morning came the same way it did yesterday. Bright sunlight, birds chirping, flowers blooming and commoners going about on their way to begin their day. To Louise, it was different.

"Come back with my panties, you stupid thing!" She yelled as she raced after the thing that should be bringing her joy of being on the way to become a proper mage. Thankfully she was already dressed, it would be embarrassing if someone came to see why she was yelling so soon in the morning.

The probe flew past her and then hovered above her head, still fixated on the aforementioned piece of clothing for some reason. Unable to reach the probe, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at her familiar.

"I'll count to three. If you don't put it back where it came from by then, I am going to have to teach you some discipline!"

Immediately, as if knowing what her words meant for it, it reached down and left her underwear back in the drawer. It approached her slowly and gave two short grave whines, seemingly ashamed of its behavior.

"That's right. You should be grateful I'm a forgiving master, otherwise I would forbid you from having breakfa- right. You don't eat anyway." She finished, suddenly noticing how useless normal methods of teaching a familiar how to act should be.

Not wanting to miss today's first class, she hurried to the way out of the tower as said class was on the tower on the other side of the school. She mentally cursed to whoever designed the shape of the academy, she had already lost enough time chasing her familiar around in her room and she didn't need to lose even more time walking through the whole school as a result of some more aesthetical design over a functional one. But just as yesterday, before she could reach the stairs, her face became familiarized with an ample mountain range.

A very squishy one.

' _How many times we must repeat this. It's not even funny.'_ She silently seethed as a pair of arms went behind her and pressed her face deeper between the fleshy mounds, suffocating her even further. From above her, Kirche's voice was heard.

"My, my, Louise." She cooed, "Is this how you're going to greet me every day? I must say, it's such a nice gesture." As she finished, she let the smaller girl free as she stumbled back gasping for air. As she did so, a chirping sound stole Kirche's attention and she looked behind the girl she almost suffocated.

She knew Louise summoned a familiar yesterday but she didn't get to see it as close as it was now. She bent down and looked into the pink crystal eye, she was surprised to see her own reflection looking back at her. Before she could make a remark at this, she was pushed aside by the owner of the familiar.

"Hey! Keep your hands off my familiar, you cow!" Cried an angry Louise, brandishing her wand. The germanian took a step back, but her grin didn't disappear from her face. She placed a hand on her hip and said.

"I must congratulate you, Louise. It looks like you're not useless after all." She directed her hand to the side, where a fire salamander was waiting dutifully at the redhead. "This is my familiar, Flame. This gorgeous specimen is the most perfect representation of my elemental affinity." And it was, as the salamander swung peacefully its tail which ended with a flame just like his namesake.

The Valliére said curtly, "Zerbst, I don't have time for this. I have to get to class right now and, correct me if I'm wrong, you have the same class as I do." She turned to leave but the redhead decided that moment would be perfect to hook her arm around the smaller girl's one. "Hey! Let me go!" Ordered Louise as she tried to slap the arm away.

Kirche pulled her closer and said, "Tut, tut, tut, Louise. Normally I go to class with Tabitha, but since she already left, I need someone to walk with me."

Louise tried to pull away with all her might, but she could not break free from the strength of the taller girl. Unable to leave her side, she sighed and walked along with Kirche the rest of the way to Miss Chevruse's class.

But then, the voice of Zeratul echoed in her head.

" _I shall watch over you, young one. I too need to learn a few things of this 'magic' you terrans practice."_

As soon as he finished his message, Louise jumped sacredly, and involuntarily, into Kirche's arms, earning a giggle from the redhead. "Oh my, I thought you didn't want me to be so close to you."

Louise pouted but didn't respond. If Zeratul was going to be observing her, she could discuss with him over more details regarding the probe and his species. For now, what her familiar was had become very sensitive information.

Then, a question from the germanian snapped her out of her thoughts. She shook her head and unconsciously asked, "What did you say?"

Before Louise could recover from her polite slip, Kirche repeated. "I asked if you knew what your familiar is."

"Of course I do…" Answered Louise, "But that doesn't mean I will tell you."

"Aww… but why?" Pouted Kirche, a few students watching the word exchange from the sidelines swooned at this. They were by now entering the classroom.

"Because I don't want to. Now let me get in my seat." She walked past her, feeling the hold on her arm looser, and went to her place to wait for the professor to begin the class. As almost every student was already there.

By the time she sat down, she asked to herself. _"What the heck is a 'terran'?"_ Thinking on what Zeratul told her. Were they some kind of animal? Race? Friends or enemies?

" _It is your species, is it not?"_ Came the answer from the protoss, still hidden from sight. Discreetly, she swept her gaze over the classroom, but try as she might, she couldn't find him. At her side, her familiar lazily hovered a few inches from the ground, awaiting for a command.

" _No… I am human. Perhaps you are confusing us with elves?"_ She thought aloud, feeling weird at being confused with those savages.

She heard what could be compared to a mental hum, _"I heard terrans use that term too. But I am uncertain of what you say about these 'elves'"_

The sound of chairs scraping on the floor as the students stood up to greet the teacher as she entered the room took Louise out of the conversation. As the professor cleared out her throat and began her lesson, the young mage decided this conversation had to wait for another time.

Halfway through the class, after a brief explanation of the workings behind the magic power classification. From dot, to line, to triangle and finally to square class mages, they represent the amount of elements a mage could reinforce their spells with; from one to four, respectively. The elements, however, were more of a basic reminder of where a mage could focus their power from; fire, water, earth, wind and the lost element of void.

This peculiar fact piqued the curiosity of Zeratul. Knowing that the void was once wielded by someone only have that ability removed from their society.

During her explanation, Louise was writing notes on the lessons. If there was something she was really good at in this academy, was in the theoretical side of her studies. Her scribbling was interrupted when she overheard one of the students whispered to another.

"How is this going to help us anyway? We already know this from first year"

Professor Chevruse apparently heard them and said to the students in the back of the class. "Does any of you have something to say to the class?"

The brave, or foolish, student stood up to reveal he was Guiche de Gramont, son of the General de Gramont. A charming grin was on him as he said "Indeed. I, Guiche de Gramont, am opposed of this first minutes of this, otherwise, brilliant lesson." He pulled out his wand, a rose shaped one, and held placed it near his nose in a gallant manner, "It is quite a waste of time going over the very first topic we had after starting our stay in this academy."

The professor then said, "And I think reviewing the basics behind of what makes us nobles and mages is more important than any lesson. Imagine what would be of us if Brimir didn't handed us down his legacy to learn from it and protect those who don't have this power."

The classroom fell silent at her answer and she used this moment to take a few pebbles from the folds of her robe. She placed them on the desk beside her and stated, "Very well, if you are so eager to begin today's lesson, then let's begin with transfiguration." She chanted a brief spell and gently touched the group of pebbles with the tip of her wand. In an instant, the stone transformed and shone with radiant yellow color.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Kirche from her seat, "Is that gold?"

"No, it is merely brass." Miss Chevruse declared, "I am after all a triangle class earth mage, I do not have the ability to turn stone into gold as it is one of the most difficult spells one could perform in transfiguration." Looking over the classroom, she saw Louise furiously scribbling away in her booklet. "Miss Valliére, if you would make a demonstration for the class, please?"

Suddenly, the entirety of the students became alarmed, frantically trying to dissuade the professor from letting Louise try the spell. Even Tabitha, who ignored for the most part the antics of her classmates, picked up the book she was reading and calmly exited the classroom during the confusion.

The teacher supposed it was just an irrational reaction from the students. She gave a nod to the volunteer and placed a second pile of pebbles on the desk, despite the cries of mercy of the crowd.

Louise steeled herself, ignoring the pleas from her classmates. She raised her wand and repeated the same spell as the one chanted by the professor, the pebbles glowed brilliantly, a myriad of colors flashed from them for a fraction of a second…

*BOOM*

…Only to have the desk reduced to a mass of charred splinters. The professor lay near the blackboard, unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Louise's clothes were torn in a few places with a few blackened spots here and there. The other students were a bit luckier as they hid behind their desks during the duration of the spell.

The squeaking of the door opening drew attention to Tabitha, who was returning to her seat with the same tranquil expression she had when she left.

To Zeratul, this young girl was proving to be more interesting to teach than he initially thought.

* * *

It was breakfast time for the students. Unlike yesterday, Louise went to the mess hall to dwell on what happened earlier today. Sure, no one got hurt and she didn't get a punishment from because it was the teacher's fault to not listening to her students and not knowing Louise's background with failed spells. But that didn't take away the fact that it happened.

She looked around her and noticed that once again she was alone in her spot of the room. As same as always, the others were eating, talking among each other and sharing interests as the servants of the academy went from here to there with plates full of food or recently emptied, fine cutlery and serving water and, for some of the older students, wine.

She let out a sigh and kept toying with her empty plate with a fork. She told the servant who gave her a glass of water that she wasn't hungry right now and it seemed like he spread out her statement to the others. At the sound of a chair being pulled next to her raised her gaze to see Kirche sitting down next to her, lowering her morale even further.

Not wanting to acknowledge her, Louise kept her eyes on her empty plate as the germanian started eating. A few minutes later, another chair scraped along the floor and Tabitha sat on the other side of the Valliére. While she didn't hold any grudges with the galian, she wasn't in the best of moods to be next to someone right now. Even now her familiar was in the stables with the others because it was forbidden to have them in here.

"Speak." Said the bespectacled girl. Always short and to the point.

"Why are you here?" Asked Louise, knowing that hearing the blue haired girl was an unusual phenomenon and as such, it had to be something important.

"Hungry. Wanted to eat."

"I know that, but why are you HERE," she emphasized, "right next to me."

"Free space." Louise scoffed.

"Yeah right, there are more places where you can sit in."

Cleaning a spot in the corner of her mouth, Tabitha responded, "Quiet place."

"Fine, suit yourself." Finished the pinkette. Then, two simultaneous slaps rang through the room and the three girls turned their heads to see Guiche clutching his face with a pained and shocked expression. On both sides of him were two girls, one blonde whose name was Montmorency and a brunette she only recognized as a first year student. Both of the girls held their hands up in the air as they just finished handing down their opinions on the young casanova double-timing on them.

"Damn, I was wondering when they were going to catch him." Half-whispered the redhead, breaking the silence in the scene. But Louise didn't pay attention to her as her eyes were glued to another person.

After all, her new friend Siesta was frantically trying to look inconspicuous of the situation, despite being in the middle of it.

"You!" Accused the offended noble, "This is your fault!" He pointed a finger at the maid and continued. "If you didn't have involved yourself in this, this wouldn't have happened."

Not waiting to hear to whatever was going to come out of the blonde fop's mouth, she stormed over there and yelled, "Hey! What is your problem, Guiche?"

"The problem, Zero, is that this maid broke the hearts of these two beautiful flowers by planting false evidence on me."

Sobbing, the maid tried to defend herself. "That is not true, Lord Guiche, I was just merely trying to give back this-" She held a trembling hand with a bottle of perfume as she was interrupted.

"Do not talk back to me. I saw what you did." He snatched the bottle and went to stuff it in one of his pockets, before the blonde girl grabbed his hand and grabbed the bottle from him.

"Where did you get this, maid?" Asked Montmorency, giving off a scrutinizing glare at Guiche.

Knowing she had been given a chance at telling her part of the story, she said. "I picked it up from the ground when it fell out of one of the first grade students and went to give it back before Lord Guiche stopped me."

"Is that so?" She said, icily. She saw the swirling liquid within the bottle and looked directly at Guiche, "My dear fiancée, why did this other student, a first year no less, had the bottle of perfume I gave you earlier this week?"

Katie, the brunette one, went pale and almost started to cry and screamed at him, "Is it true?! Why didn't you tell me you were already engaged?"

Trying to save his hide in any way possible, he said. "It's not true, I have never heard of such lies before. It is her who is responsible of tainting my honor, and for that, she should be punished as she deserves."

The maid was trembling in her place and closed her eyes. Her family depended on her to provide some extra income to keep her siblings well fed and to help her parents to pay the ever raising taxes, she couldn't afford to lose her job over an accusation from a noble. It was like a permanent stain on her reputation and nothing could solve anything like this.

"Guiche, you spineless coward!" Shouted Louise, "How dare you try to pin this on her! You are tarnishing what being a noble means."

"Oh? And what would the being a noble mean for someone who can't even do magic, eh?" Asked Guiche mockingly.

"It's about protecting the commoners. To be an example for them." She exclaimed, then the blond fop barked a laugh and replied.

"Then you would like to defend this maid's honor as well. I demand a satisfaction for this affront." He declared.

"Guiche, you know as well as I do that dueling between nobles in the school is forbidden."

"Well, then we're lucky you're not an actual mage, right?" He taunted.

"Fine! Have it your way." She sneered, "Tell me when and where so I can show you how much of a mage I really am."

"At the Vestri Court in ten minutes." With that, he turned and left. Leaving behind an angry Louise, a frightened Siesta, a scorned fiancée and a letdown first grader.

Turning on her heel, Montmorency was the first to talk to Louise. "This is the only time I am going to ask you for something, Louise the Zero: Make. Him. Pay." Then she left, followed by Katie blabbering apologies.

This in turn gave enough time for Louise to contemplate on what she had just witnessed. Her own anger gave way to confusion, as it did to the dawning realization of having just been challenged to a duel with a line class earth mage. The son of a general. And worst of all, in front of everyone.

Zeratul, who had been silent ever since the mess during Miss Chevruse's class, said in her head. _"It seems the first lesson I will have to teach you is to not let your emotions rush ahead of your common sense."_


	6. Chapter 5 From the Shadows

Chapter 5. From the Shadows

Louise hurriedly paced back and forth in front of the kitchens, she just recently had a light snack per Siesta's request, as she mulled over her hasty decision. She didn't plan on having to fight Guiche over her friend's job and well-being. After her reprimand, she expected the scorned girls he cheated to be on her side and take care of the problem in their own hands, maybe even, loathe to admit, having the germanian cow to intervene before she agreed on the fop's challenge out of pride and irrational decision making. But this? This was madness!

' _Damn this moral code and sense of responsibility I was raised with.'_ She thought as she nibbled on the nail of her thumb.

" _Perhaps I can be of assistance, young one, if this boy is such a worrisome opponent for you."_ Said Zeratul, a small amount of what could be either genuine worry or a very poor attempt at sarcasm. She had spent so little time with him to tell.

"I can certainly do this on my own, thank you very much!" She exclaimed, making Siesta to raise an eyebrow at her speaking to herself. The floating familiar was there too, floating lazily as it followed the worried girl in her attempt to wear a trench in the floor, requesting in chirps and beeps to make itself of use to her. Not that any of the humans there could understand it. _"Also, I don't know how they would take seeing a space person."_ She mentally added.

"Miss Valliére, please, don't put yourself in harm's way for my sake. I can try to find a way to get out of this. I can take the blame for the incident." Pleaded the maid.

In turn, Louise whirled on her heels and explained to her. "I won't stand for it, Siesta. He is making you face the consequences of him acting like an uncivilized dog."

Not wanting to correct the noble, Siesta fell silent as she followed Louise, who was starting to head to the Vestri Court. The probe followed as well as did Zeratul, the latter pondered on how to keep his charge safe. He doubted, after watching how Louise was as adept at magic as an ultralisk was at keeping quiet, that she could win this duel without any intervention.

By the time they arrived to the open space the Court provided, they saw a crowd of students beginning to place bets- in overwhelming favor to Guiche, chattering on and on about how the upstart girl should be expelled for not even having the obvious means to participate in the duel. Others were speaking about the gall of that maid to try to soil a noble's reputation. This made Louise grind her teeth in silent anger and Siesta to shy away from their scrutinizing glares. Her familiar was focused only on the path her master strode, following it without any sound other than the hover field exuding from within it.

The sight of Guiche made her blood boil. Such an arrogant fop demanding satisfaction from a duel against the only student who can't cast a single spell in the entire academy was deemed as the lowest of the low in Louise's eyes. All of it because he won't admit his own fault in a problem he created!

"I'm here, Gramont." Announced the youngest of the Valliére. Suddenly, the chatter halted and the students awaited from the response of the blonde boy.

Posing dramatically as he sniffed from the tip of the rose-shaped-wand, he exclaimed for all to hear, "Ah, Louise the Zero! I didn't really think you would come here at all. I honestly hoped you would run away after your little bravado wore out."

The affronted young mage huffed and brandished her wand, she didn't want to hear any more of the boy spouting nonsense. She said, in same volume as him. "I, Louise Francoise Le Blanc de la Valliére, accepted your demand for a duel earlier today and now I will participate in this challenge following my word. Name your conditions, Guiche."

"I, Guiche de Gramont, set the terms of this duel as the following: The fight will end when any of us concede and to make things something more 'fair' I will allow you to use your familiar alongside you during the duel. If I win, that maid who tarnished my honor will get out of this academy as long as you don't admit you are nothing but a lowly and magicless brat." He announced haughtily.

"What if I win?" Challenged Louise, earning a short laugh from Guiche.

"Then you are free to choose whatever you want to do after the duel ends, of course."

"Fine, let's get started then-" Whatever Louise was going to say was interrupted when a panting Mr. Colbert parted the crowd of students as he made way to the pair.

"Everyone stop in this instant!" He exclaimed, "I will not allow any of you to partake in this unruly behavior. In case you have forgotten, this is against the rules of the academy." Straightening up, he asked, "In any case, whatever has brought you to this course of action?"

Before any of the students could say a word, the Headmaster popped his head out of the window in his office and yelled down to the people below. "Don't you worry about it, Jean! I am very sure this can be used as a lesson to build up some character. How about you oversee it so nobody gets hurt?" Then he popped back in, much to the confusion of the students and the annoyance of Colbert.

For a brief moment, the professor wondered about how could this old man be such an admirable mage and deemed responsible of forming the new generations of magic users and still act so immaturely. Turning to the students, he cleared his throat and said, "Very well… If the Headmaster allows it, then I will make sure none of you gets hurt."

Nodding at the professor, the two students went to their places as the others gave them space to begin. Sensing the will of its master, the probe went along Louise as she walked to her spot, as she did, she heard Zeratul speak to her once again.

" _Young one, although they don't appear so, probes are resilient small amounts of damage and equipped with the ability to shoot short bursts of… lightning at very short range."_ She nodded to let him know she was absorbing this information. He continued, _"However, probes were not designed to openly fight at leisure. Practice restrain on your own reliance on it."_

" _I'm more worried about how I'm going to fight myself, Zeratul."_ She thought back, swallowing nervously.

With Mr. Colbert standing between the two teens, they did a bow of courtesy as it was mandatory before any duel. A simple gesture from his hand gave way to the beginning of the challenge.

The first one to make a move was Guiche, who swung his wand letting a petal from it to fall to the ground. Light engulfed the fallen item and it transformed into an effeminate, tall, metal construct. Its features were more inclined to be esthetically appealing rather than to be structurally sound with its overly narrow waist and defined facial details. It held a sword that accommodated its size in a delicate hand.

From his spot hanging from one of the windows of the nearest tower, Zeratul shook his head at the sight of the unsophisticated golems. The terrans, or humans he reminded himself, he knew were focused in making things functional first and then maybe making them palatable to the eye. Whatever led this boy to do this the other way around should be replaced with other reasoning as soon as possible if he ever wanted to become an useful commander, as Zeratul heard the boy came from a military family.

"I am Guiche de Gramont," He reminded everyone once again, much to the annoyance of Louise, "My runic name is 'The Bronze'. As you can tell, my Valkyries are a creation of mine and are quite formidable golems, if I do say so myself."

Louise's probe, sensing her mindset, went ahead of her and chirped menacingly, or at least as menacingly as a probe could be, and turned its lens a darker shade of pink, bordering the tones of red. She smiled slightly at the sight of her familiar for stepping forward at the first sign of danger, however small as it may be.

The bronze Valkyrie ran forward with sword over its head as it prepared to cut down its opponent. Louise could only look in disbelief as the heavy slab of metal swung over her familiar and bounced off a wall that materialized surrounding the probe like a bubble. Almost everyone, even Guiche, stood there with a slack jaw at the sight of such a little thing shrugging off what could have injured even the hardiest of animals.

" _Now I get what you're saying, Zeratul."_ Thought Louise aloud for him to hear. Not that it mattered as the expression on her face reflected her sudden awareness of the damage resistance of a mechanical construct built by an ancient civilization from space.

"Attack now, familiar!" She shouted. At her command, the probe emitted a small burst of electricity in the direction of the Valkyrie. However, it didn't appear to be affected that much by the attack as the bronze merely conducted the energy to the ground. The construct raised again its blade only to meet the same result and the response from the probe was the same as well.

To say that the duel became underwhelming rather fast was an understatement.

The words of the old protoss still bounced in her head as she recalled that the probes were not meant for fighting. Steeling herself, she decided to take the initiative in the scuffle between the two metallic combatants, she raised her wand and casted the first spell that came to her mind.

"FIREBALL!" Instead of the ball of flames she expected, and as it was usual with her spells, the spell went off as thunderous blast and the thick cloud of smoke that came with it. However, her aim was off and the explosion came from half a foot away from the Valkyrie and the probe, making the concussive blast weaker. But still she managed to blow away one of the legs of the golem, making it loose its footing and fall to the ground.

Her familiar seized the moment to keep zapping away at the downed construct until the metal making up the golem started to overheat and lost cohesion. Then, two more glowing petals fell from Guiche's wand and two more Valkyries joined the fray.

The sudden addition of these combatants made Louise to narrow her eyes at the things and gestured to her probe to retreat closer to her. Once it did this, she noticed a few blue sparks coming out of the bubble that protected it.

" _What is happening to my familiar, Zeratul?"_ She mentally asked.

" _It seems your explosion has overloaded the energy shields of the probe. It will take a few moments before they correct the damage."_ Analyzing the events of the fight, he added. _"I advise you to be cautious, as far as I can tell, he is prone to summon more of those Valkyries."_

She gave a silent thanks to his suggestion. She couldn't rely on having the familiar to withstand more punishment, she had to act fast if she didn't want to repeat the same performance she had with the first Valkyrie. She couldn't afford inaction.

Sending her familiar forward, she casted another explosion, this time she hit between the two golems, which were closing the gap between her and them. The resulting explosion softened up the constructs and they fell ready for the probe to zap them to melting point.

Three more Valkyries came next, two with poles that ended in sharp tips, resembling spears but not quite, and the other with a crude slab of metal acting like a club instead of a sword. The features of the golems were less discernable the more he summoned them. It seemed like the boy was scrambling to add numbers to his force instead of whatever half-baked tactic he had initially.

Smirking at the sight of her opponent losing control, Louise grew confident on the inability of the Valkyries reaching her after the last pair she obliterated. But as crude as they may look, they were still dangerous golems and they proved to be so as the one with the club swatted away her familiar with a might swing. She forgot to order the probe to get away. The bubble that protected the probe broke and the resultant force of the strike sent it away to the walls of the building. She winced at the sound of metal hitting solid stone and resisted the urge to run over to her familiar and check if it was okay. She had to deal first with Guiche's golems.

"Are you ready to surrender now, Zero?" Taunted the boy from his spot in the field. Anger bubbled inside her at the voice of the blond, double-timing fop. She was about to retort when the thunderous stomping of the Valkyries closing the distance caught her attention.

She backpedaled and narrowly escaped from one that thrust the crude metal stick in the ground where she once stood. She figured she couldn't dodge their attacks and cast spells at the same time, she needed a plan and she needed it soon.

She jumped, sprung and ran away from the golems, if ever so clumsily. Mr. Colbert looked more than ready to finish the duel any moment now, but her own stubbornness prevented him from doing his job as she called out. "I will not surrender, Gramont!" Then she resumed to escaping the Valkyries. The onlookers were either fascinated of Louise having lasted for so long and others were worried of her resulting the victor, even if the possibility of her doing so on her own was slim.

Then, before she knew it, she was surrounded by the Valkyries. She looked around her and tried to find an opening to escape from there. Her sore limbs, not used at working so much in so little time, were screaming at her and weighting her down. She panted heavily and was considering the consequences of surrendering now or losing honorably, with how little honor was involved in this baseless duel, she hoped she could explain this entire situation to the Headmaster before her mother caught wind of this. She was scary.

Snapping her out of her train of thought, Zeratul called to her, _"Duck to the left, now!"_

The golem in front of her, the one with the club, swung overhead and she did what the protoss told her. What would have been a direct hit was suddenly thrown off course to the right, burying the slab of metal in the ground.

" _Right, then forward between its legs."_ She heard once again. The two with the rods tried to tackle her, only for the first one to be shoved to the left as she flopped to the right and the second one 'tripped' and went flying over her prone form. To the audience, it was a gigantic stroke of luck for her to come out of that situation unharmed.

But from somewhere in the crowd, the trained pair of eyes of Tabitha narrowed at the sudden movements of the combatants. It seemed as if someone had parried aside the blows. Questions started popping in her head as she kept watching this mockery of a duel.

" _Turn around and keep moving forward until I say so."_ She complied, she didn't want to argue about whatever was happening right now if it meant she wasn't going to get hit by the Valkyries. The one with the club left the club half-buried in the ground and ran toward Louise in an attempt to stop her.

" _Jump as high as you can and then punch when you land"_ Whatever confusion she had for a brief second was replaced with apprehension when the golem in front of her 'tripped' like the last one. She closed her eyes and she sprung forward, the construct sliding below her, and landed on both feet. Using her momentum she impulse her upper body forward and swung her fist with all her waning strength.

A wet crunch and a girlish scream of pain were her rewards.

She opened her eyes to find Guiche strewn on the ground with his hands on his face cradling a broken nose. His eyes were watering and was squirming like a worm on a frying pan. She blinked a few times to make sure what she was watching was real. Then the sound of crumbling metal brought her attention to the dematerializing Valkyries. Without a master to power them, they fell apart in a crumpled heap.

Then there was silence.

The silence was broken by Siesta, who ran forward and engulfed the still stunned Louise in a hug, squealing a string of 'thank you's in a quick fashion. This made Louise to snap out of her unbelieving trance and looked back at the crowd of classmates who were staring slack-jawed at her performance. There in the front row of people, were Kirche, Tabitha, Montmorency and Katie.

"Guiche the Gramont can no longer fight. Louise Francoise LeBlanc de la Valliére is the victor of the duel!" Announced a flabbergasted Mr. Colbert. While he was unhappy this event had to happen at all, he was proud of the girl who managed to defeat a magical opponent without getting hurt. Granted, Guiche was only a dot class earth mage, but it was still an accomplishment for someone with a magical record as disastrous as Louise's.

The germanian was wearing a confident smirk, confusing the tired girl even further. While the galian kept her stoic demeanor, if a little colder for some reason. The other two girls, instead, were uncertain on how to act; the boy who had toyed with their hearts had been humiliated in front of the entire faculty, but he was unconscious and probably needed medical attention for that broken nose. Being part of the nobility, they were used to seeing accidents when it came to failed spells and the like, but watching people hurting each other with such intent left them rather queasy. Still, they were glad it was this instead of something more serious. Just what the hell was Guiche thinking?! Using this kind of force was completely unnecessary and Montmorency was sure to nag his ears off over this when he'd woke up.

Louise managed to break free from the arms of her friend and ran past her. Ignoring her tired muscles, she raced over to where her familiar was laying, unmoving. The sparks escaping the gaps in its shell worried her even further. She wasn't an expert in robotics or biology, but she was sure this was not a good sign. The soft, pink glow of its lens was still there and it kept chirping and beeping those strange noises, and then she noticed a small whirling buzz emitting from within her familiar, producing smaller sparks.

" _Interesting"_ Came the voice of Zeratul, _"It seems to have a nano-reparatory system to fix the damage not sustained by the energy shields."_ From whatever he was mumbling about, she only understood fixing damage. Still, she cradled the probe in her arms and gave a sigh of relief at knowing her familiar would survive a hit like that.

She tried to get up from her kneeling position and found out she couldn't with the extra weight of her familiar. "Siesta…" She called out, "Would you mind helping us get to my room? I'm rather tired…" She trailed off, trying to stay awake as the alluring call of sleep beckoned her.

Before the fatigue caught up with her, the soft footfalls of the maid she just helped approaching her were the last thing she heard before falling asleep.

Loud buzzing of laser and lightning ripping through hordes of men and strange beasts alike burned in her eardrums. The impossibly bright glow of plasma and golden ships zipping through the air like hundreds of suns in a pond blinded her eyes. The stench of burnt meat and dead carcasses filled her nostrils like the time her big sister Eleanor tried cooking for the first and only time in her life.

Then, she felt the heat.

It was as if the entirety of fire mages in all of Halkeginia decided to cast the biggest, most destructive fire spell in history directly in front of her. And tried to multiply that power by the thousands.

A lone, yet enormous, beam of light from the heavens themselves crashed into the earth and through the ground. It dug for miles and miles. She didn't know how she knew this, but the force alone made her loose her footing and she fell on her butt. Disbelief drawn on her face as she saw the life itself of the world being erased from existence.

Then, an oversized hand fell on her shoulder. Zeratul looked by her side the aftermath of whatever had transpired.

A pair of pink eyes fluttered open as a tired groan escaped from a pair of lips. Savoring the feeling of the soft bed beneath her, Louise woke up from her unplanned slumber. The hushed voice of Siesta welcomed her awakening as she spoke to someone.

Once her blurry sight cleared, she noticed she was in the infirmary, the maid was talking with one of the healers as he gave her permission to let Louise retire to her room, under somebody's supervision, of course. The maid nodded and saw the girl looking back at her with sleepiness clinging to her gaze. She had taken care of changing her out of her tattered uniform and washed her unconscious form with the help of one of the nurses, not wanting to leave her side for a single moment out of gratitude and worry.

Once the Valliére was cleared to leave the infirmary, she looked at the patient next to her. It was Guiche, a bruise occupied most of his face and his nose was covered in bandages. At his side, Montmorency was watching over him, waiting for him to wake up to give him a piece of her mind.

A few minutes later, after letting Siesta to help her go upstairs, the noble and the maid reached the door to Louise's room. Where they found Kirche and Tabitha waiting for them to arrive. The youngest of the Valliére didn't had the drive to start discussing with the germanian, she was too tired to care. The four girls entered the room and Siesta quietly closed the door, the faint marks of last night's explosion still marred its frame.

"What are you doing here? I want some rest after today's events." Whined Louise, earning a chuckle from Kirche, who responded.

"It seems little Louise doesn't want for little old me to come and take care of her for a while. Isn't it right, Tabby?" She asked the petite girl, who calmly went to one of the corners of the bed and sat down to keep reading from one of the books she took from the library. She merely nodded at the voluptuous noble as a response.

"Oh yes, Miss Valliére. Both Miss Tabitha and Miss Von Zerbst had requested to come by to know how you are doing." Explained Siesta, aware of the animosity between the two families. "I figured it would be nice for the two of you to have some time together to ease some tension between you two."

"Siesta, I am sure you want to do this because you're worried about me. And believe me, as much as I want to agree to this, which I don't, I'm tired, I'm sore and the last thing I have in my mind is to talk with the one who put me in this wretched social status in the school and is probably somehow the reason I had to do this in the first place." Declared Louise. She curled on the bed and covered her head in a pillow to block whatever response they had for her.

Then another kind of pillows enveloped her back and she grit her teeth in frustration as the cloyingly sweet voice of the germanian cow made herself comfortable next to her. "Come on… Just a few minutes and then I'll be on my way, please?"

"No!" She scooted herself closer to the edge and squirmed around in the other woman's grasp trying to break free. A few seconds of struggle later she gave up, her tired body betraying her as the soft embrace lulled her to the point where she yawned and sleep called out to her.

Not wanting to fall asleep in such an improper way, she conceded. "Fine… I'll spend some time with you." She held back another yawn threatening to break through her lips, "But we'll do it tomorrow, we'll have some time as it will be day of Void and I want some time for myself."

"You got yourself a deal, little Louise." Chirped Kirche as she rose from the mattress and said to Tabitha. "Let's go, Tabs. We'll miss dinner if we stay here any longer."

The galian nodded and closed her book. She wanted to catch up with some light reading but she could easily do it tomorrow. After all, dinner helped her to sleep without dreaming anything at all.

Just as she passed the maid holding the door open for them, she shivered at the cold presence of something. She couldn't tell what it was, but her keen intuition told her that there was something strange going on.

Once the door closed, Louise noticed something strange. "Um… Siesta, have you seen Zapper?"

"Who?" Asked the maid, confused at the name.

"Oh, my familiar. I decided to call it Zapper after its performance during the duel." She explained.

Siesta shook her head as she answered, "I haven't seen it anywhere, Miss Valliére. Perhaps it's in the stables?"

" _There is no reason to look any further…"_

Siesta almost jumped three feet in the air at the voice echoing in her head. She yelped and pressed her back to the nearest wall as she saw a swirling cloud of smoke, not unlike to ones Louise made whenever she casted a spell, and from it the owner of the voice appeared.

She didn't dare to utter a word. The green, glowing balls of light were the only features she could only classify as something that made its head resemble a face. There was no nose, mouth or ears to speak of. The tattered rags and pieces of armor spoke of age and experience more than its imposing form. Under one of its arms was Zapper, the newly titled familiar, unharmed and looking better than the las time she saw it.

"Zeratul, what are you doing? You're scaring her!" Yelled Louise, alert and free from whatever drowsiness she displayed earlier.

" _I apologize, young one. But there is something that must be discussed with the gifted one."_

"Gifted one?" Wondered the noble, "Are you seriously suggesting she can do magic?" Siesta felt faint in her knees, this couldn't be happening. Her? Magic?

" _No… not magic. Other kind of power, as faint as it feels within her, I am sure she possess a power as rare as yours."_

"Stop talking riddles, Zeratul." The young girl was getting impatient, "What kind of power are you speaking of, Void magic? One does not joke about these kind of things!" She warned.

" _The only ones who possess the power of the void in this room are two…"_ The maid and the noble held their breaths. It was impossible for this being to talk about such heresy of accusing them both of holding the power of Brimir, is it not? _"The young one and me."_

" _You, gifted one, however… have psionic potential, a spark of it. But you possess it nonetheless."_

Siesta, who had been silent the whole exchange, ventured to ask as she remembered the various stories her grandfather bestowed her in his old book, a journal of true experiences she always thought to be the delusions of an old man.

"You… You are protoss, right?"


	7. Chapter 6 Explanations and exposition

**Author Note: So... Today's election day here in Mexico and boy it was hectic. This chapter was difficult to write as there not much going on, but I swear everything will pick up by next chapter.**

 **Now, on to reviews.**

 **Artyom-Dreizehn and William. : This is the chapter for you then... The lecture, I mean. Albion is a long way from now.**

 **Heir of Void: As far as I'm willing to say right now, yes.**

 **DarkstormPL and Jakker: Oh, stop it you... I'm glad you're liking the story so far and I'll try my best to finish it.**

 **buterflypuss: I intend to keep it that way for longer...**

 **Uuhh: She just needs some love. Her childhood wasn't exactly the most nurturing one as far as I can tell, I'm afraid. Btw, put the guillotine away... please?**

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Chapter 6. Explanations and Exposition.

"You… You are protoss, right?"

It was a question that left Zeratul with another one. If he was honest, he was gladder than surprised that this human was aware of his people, even if was by name only.

" _How do you know this, gifted one?"_ His voice openly rang in the minds of the two girls in the room, as there was no reason to focus his words to a single person anymore.

"Um… My grandfather told me about you. I thought he was making it up but it seems he said the truth." Siesta responded, trying to look away from him. The featureless face made her nervous, it was unsettling how a living being could exist with such physical appearance. "…Is it true? The protoss are beings from the stars, like my grandfather said?" She asked, with a twinkle of hunger for a confirmation to those childhood tales, all those dreams of watching different worlds that were once described to her.

Louise, for her part, was utterly lost. Sure, Zeratul gave her a brief warning of doom the first time she met him, but she didn't get to ask many questions other than the nature of her familiar. Speaking of which, Zapper was doing a good job at keeping her company as it went to her and allowed her to pet it. She wasn't sure if it could even feel at all, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. But for now, she wanted to clear whatever blasphemous slander he was talking about. There was no way she and this 'protoss' were Void users. It was too ridiculous for her to fathom that in the last six thousand years, out all the people in Halkeginia, she was the one to wield the power of the Founder himself as the same time as another being from other world altogether.

This wasn't making any sense at all and she didn't like it.

" _Indeed, we are."_ Said Zeratul, interrupting her musings as he answered to the maid. _"Although I am curious myself about the existence of this knowledge in this world, I came here to return this probe to its master as soon as it was fully repaired."_

"For that I thank you, Zeratul. But that doesn't explain why you are letting Siesta to see you right now." Interrupted Louise. "I assumed no one was supposed to know about you."

" _And you may be right, young one."_ He conceded, _"However, as I oversaw the repairs of your familiar, I noticed it identified the source of a psionic signature coming from this human in particular. A psionic sensitive human can be dangerous if left unattended when they get their first contact with their 'gift'."_

"Um… how dangerous could it be? If may I ask, Mr. Zeratul?" Asked worriedly Siesta. The knowledge that something from within her could be dangerous wasn't exactly the most comforting for her.

" _It depends on the amount of power you have. For some it could be something as simple as moving small objects or reading the feelings of another person. On the other side of the spectrum, it could be manifested as delivering powerful storms of psionic energy and erasing the minds of anyone close to you."_ He explained.

Louise tried, and failed, to wrap her mind around how this was different from magic. Young mages developed their magic early in their lives to learn control and were given items such as wands or staffs to focus their willpower. They were constantly taught by either private tutors or parents to help them to safely use the heritage from the Founder. But Siesta was as confused as she was terrified of the manifestation of psionics.

"I don't understand. If that's true, then why I haven't showed any of it? Surely there must be a stage where it becomes noticeable."

"Yeah, I was wondering that too. While I haven't known Siesta for more than a couple of days, I don't want her to be in danger. Again." Clarified Louise as she rubbed her right hand, it seemed like Guiche had a head harder than she assumed. "Maybe she needs a wand to use psionics?"

The Dark Templar shook his head, _"I'm afraid that won't be necessary. Psionic power only needs the innate strength of the mind and the inner focus required to learn and use several skills."_ The staff he was holding suddenly grew a green flame shaped as a blade, hissing as it burned the air around it. _"My people are well versed in the use of psionic and Void power energy, as we were created with the intent of utilizing these energies as parts of ourselves."_

In moments like this, he wished he had a Khaydarin crystal. First contact with other species less developed were very few and far in between, considered to be avoided at all costs to let them grow at their own pace, but right now he would have appreciated the help of the superior technology his own race had to share information without the need to keep explaining every detail that were needed to understand him. After all, if hadn't let Jim Raynor know the prophecy of doom Zeratul learned about during his exile there wouldn't be any chance for the galaxy, his former galaxy, to survive the wrath of the Dark One.

" _Given the quiet nature of this world and the lack of the genes which trigger this ability within humans, there is not enough stimulus to begin the development of psionic powers."_ Seeing the confused stare Louise and Siesta were giving him at the word 'genes', he clarified. _"Genes are the foundation of every living being. They dictate which traits are passed from one generation to the next and the evolution of a given species as they perpetuate their existence; notwithstanding, these aspects happen to suffer unique variations, or mutations, by the resurgence of a dormant trait or mere random chance, such as albinism in some animals or plants."_

"…Right, ok." This made sense for the girls, while it was common knowledge that only nobles had the ability to use magic and they passed down that trait from parents to children, there were curious cases where some of the nobles were disowned by not having any kind of magic. It was rare, but not unheard from. After all, it was Louise's worst fear. This it also held true with the mages who weren't part to any noble family, as a result of being the result of irresponsible nobles treating commoners as playthings or genuinely falling in love with one another like those sappy stories she had seen her big sister Cattleya read a few times.

" _Protoss, for our part, have developed ways to ensure the prevention of any hindering flaws possible in our offspring. Apart from this, our bodies are naturally comprised with psionic or, given the choice, Void energies. But never both as they are opposites of one another."_

Louise decided maybe learning biology this late in the day, or night should she say, was not the best subject to be focusing on at the moment. She interrupted his lesson with her main concern. "Zeratul, this is interesting and all but I think we're diverging from the subject at hand. It is considered not only ridiculous but also blasphemous in Halkeginia to refer to the use of the lost element of Void as something as common as you say."

"Miss Valliére is right, Mr. Zeratul." Piped in Siesta, "Our religion here in Halkeginia is very tied to our history. The last Void mage was the Founder Brimir himself, six thousand years ago. He gave the nobles the magic they wield today and gave them also the right to rule over those without magic."

The old protoss could respect that, but he wasn't fond of this ideology. The Conclave of the High Templar thought in a similar way, casting out those of the Nerazim for renouncing the Khala and embracing their individuality outside the shared net of thoughts and emotions. Arrogant and blind to the dangers of the stagnant beliefs that prevented them from eliminating the true enemy: the Zerg.

There was not a day he didn't think of the Aeon of Strife. So many lives were lost over a conflict of beliefs and traditions that left the protoss a dying race. Even with the advanced technology they were able to create and the science they learned, there was nothing they could do in the face of adversity of their own brethren.

" _I won't challenge your faith in your religion. Of that I am certain."_ He said, earning a nod from the humans. _"But I speak true when I say that the Void lies within you, young one."_

"Could you not keep doing that?" Asked Louise. "My name is Louise LeBlanc Francoise de la Valliére, it is getting jarring really fast."

"You may call me Siesta if you want, Mr. Zeratul." Added the maid.

" _Very well, Louise, Siesta."_ Zeratul agreed. Then he continued, _"The Void is something that we Nerazim have yet to completely understand. It remains as mysterious as it wants to be as it only responds to those who are willing to learn from it with diligent dedication through the years._

" _Many search for it, but very few are sought after by it. T. The Void is not only a manifestation of energy or a place between dimensions. It acts like an entity and is the witness of creation and the experiences lived before the stars came to existence. Therefore, we attempt to reach it and replicate the energies released by it to aid our dying race.""_

"Dying? If the protoss are so advanced then what is stopping you from flourishing?" Asked Siesta.

" _Make sure to be comfortable, for this story will take some time to explain. At first, there were the Xel'Naga, beings of unsurmountable power and knowledge…"_

* * *

Meanwhile, in the dimly lit room of the Headmaster Osmond, said old man was busy with his thoughts as he sat comfortably in his chair, taking a drag from his pipe. Said item was snatched not a second later by his assistant, Miss Longueville.

"Why must you do this to me?" Osmond miserably asked, pouting like a child whose favorite toy was taken away from.

"Remember that you hired me because you wanted to make things easier on you and it is hard to do it if you keep killing yourself with this." She reprimanded as she shook the pipe in front of him.

"Oh, but the doctor back in the infirmary told me it could help me with my arthritis…" He trailed off as he tried to hide a cheeky grin as he showed his hands to her, not even believing his own words. The secretary frowned and glared at him as she threw the item behind her and she approached the old man.

"Is that so?" She sweetly asked as she bent down to his eye level, making sure her lower body was away from the range of his hands. She hadn't forgotten how much he liked to grope her behind whenever he thought she wasn't paying attention. She whispered in his ear, "Then why don't I give you a massage to ease up those old bones of yours?"

"Why, thank you Miss Longueville, I appreciate-" He didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as he was tackled to the ground. Grunts of pain filled the room as the heel of the secretary slammed into his back repeatedly. "Uff, what did I do this time to deserve this, Miss Longueville?"

"You just don't learn, Headmaster!" She exclaimed, not stopping for a second, "How many times do I have to tell you that this is bad for your health!"

"Argh!... And this is?" He asked in between stomps. Not really as bothered as he should have as he got a glimpse of her underwear from his position. _'Still plain white…'_

The sound of someone clearing their throat got their attention as they saw Jean Colbert standing in the doorway with a troubled expression in his face. While he was aware of the antics of his lecherous friend, Colbert wasn't sure as to what to think about what he was seeing right now. A bead of sweat came down his forehead as he politely asked, "…Am I interrupting something, Osmond?"

From his prone position on the floor, the Headmaster said, "Oh no, dear friend. Do come in, tell me what you think of today's duel."

"Wait, there was a duel between the students?" Asked Longueville. "When did this happen?"

Colbert decided to answer, "It happened earlier today while you were in town getting some supplies for the Headmaster." He stopped for a second and remembered something, "Now that I think of it, didn't you say that you couldn't find any of them when you came back?"

Miss. Longueville grit her teeth as she recalled the sudden order from Osmond just after the breakfast time for the students, asking for a new set of quills made from gryphon feathers. She scoured through the capitol from side to side only to come back empty handed. She thought of it as one of the unusual whims of the old man, he told her that when she went to his office without the quills with a tone of cheerful dismissal. Something strange for the urgency in his words this morning.

But now it made sense, Colbert may be responsible for the safety of the students and the rules imparted by the academy, but he obeyed whenever the Headmaster gave an order. "Well, Headmaster. It seems we're going to have a few words later. I won't keep you waiting, Mr. Colbert, you can go ahead and talk with the old man if you want." She said as she stepped away from the body of the old man and out of the room, slamming the door on her way out.

"Well… That could have gone better." Said Osmond as Colbert helped him to get up on his feet. "So, what did you learn, Jean? Did the duel helped you with figuring out what is this mysterious familiar is all about?"

"I can't really say for sure, Headmaster. I still can't figure out how is Miss Valliére's familiar able to use the power of the Gándarlf. Let alone what species it even is!" He said as he threw his hands in the air, uncharacteristically exasperated. "There's no doubt she is a Void mage, if the lack of an elemental affiliation and the excess of willpower are to be believed. I really wish there could be a way we could help her control her power."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Jean." Calmly replied Osmond. "If I remember right, we agreed on letting her be blissfully unaware of the nature of her element. Founder knows how much stress that would put her through. And if we're lucky, she may be able to master one of the other four elements in time. After all, that's what differentiates a dot class mage to a line class one."

"Osmond, I think you're not taking this seriously. We can't wait for the problem to solve itself, today she was involved in a duel. Not only that's against the rules of the academy but she was lucky to have come out of it unharmed, let alone win it."

"Indeed she was. Too lucky in fact." The Headmaster mused. "Do you think the Gramont kid let Valliére win?"

"I wouldn't know, Osmond. It is something that crossed my mind too, but it doesn't add up. The boy wanted to challenge and prove his own 'superiority' over her as a mage, it doesn't strike me as consistent that he suddenly decided to lose the match this easily."

"It seems this little experiment of mine left us with more questions than answers, old friend." Said Osmond as he rubbed his back and winced as it cracked. "And it also gave me a few bruises. Jean, be a friend and pass me my pipe. I need to medicate myself."

Colbert could only shake his head as he complied.

* * *

"… _And finally helped Louise to win her fight with Guiche, blocking away the strikes from those Valkyries and guiding her where to go."_

An hour had passed since Zeratul began his story and told them an abridged version of his involvement with the conflict raging back in his universe and a brief history lesson on the protoss. He was glad he didn't have a throat or otherwise it would be sore by how much he had been talking today. The unbelieving looks from the young humans before him gave him the impression they wouldn't handle any more of his exposition. Of course, learning about the wars that threatened to destroy the lives of the protoss and the terrans at the hands of the Zerg and the Xel'Naga was something that left one speechless if they already didn't have any information of the Koprulu Sector altogether.

Louise was the first to find her voice, "Um… I… I don't know what to say." But not her eloquence, it seemed. "I thought what you last told me was too much, but it was barely a fraction of what it meant…"

" _Ah yes, terrans used to say the expression 'Only the tip of the iceberg' when they discover something bigger than themselves."_ Added the protoss, helping her find something to say.

Then came Siesta with her input. "And these Zerg… are you sure they are not here? I don't think I could stomach having them free. Anywhere."

" _While the Zerg are capable of warping across large distances, I doubt they are capable of displacing themselves between dimensions with their biological limitations. Fortunately most of the Zerg swarm is controlled by the Queen of Blades, or so I hope."_

This put Siesta's worries to rest, even if for a moment. She shuddered at the thought of the beasts in her grandfather's journal having free reign over Halkeginia. Creatures like those should be left in the deepest confines of the farthest of places away from anyone. And to think her grandfather was brave or foolish enough to go, hunt and capture them. She was surprised to have ever met him.

And that Queen of Blades… Neither Siesta nor Louise could think of a way to describe this woman. Ruthless? Definitely. Scary? Of course. Cunning? That too. But she was being controlled during most of her rampage on this 'Brood War' and they didn't know how to feel about her situation. Being forced to destroy the lives of millions under the influence of an omnipotent being was something they couldn't begin to grasp.

"Zeratul, this Tassadar that sent you here. Do you know why he did it?" Asked Louise, trying to turn away from the topic of the ruler of the Zerg.

The reasoning from Tassadar had been vague at best, only telling him about something dreadful approaching this world and only he could help the one who could stop it to succeed. _"I am afraid there is only the warning he gave me. His words spoke of great danger coming from somewhere, but he didn't said how it would take place."_

The young mage shook her head at this, she didn't like being kept in the dark. It was even worse now that it was supposedly a matter of grave implications on the fate of Halkeginia. It made her drama with the school and her classmates look insignificant in comparison. The story Zeratul told her didn't help either. Epic wars spanning entire planets and the stars in between with machines beyond her imagination.

It was both fascinating and terrifying.

Zapper fidgeted within her grasp. Somewhere during the tale, she had moved to sit cross-legged at the head of her bed with Siesta at her side and Zapper nestled in her lap and she used the top of its body to rest her arms and chin. This brought a question, a very important for her.

"Do you have any idea why you couldn't be my familiar instead of Zapper? Don't get me wrong, I like him. But wouldn't it be easier if I got to have something that could talk back?"

" _I would like to think Tassadar knew it would be dangerous if I were to be revealed during your summoning ceremony. From what I gathered it would have caused great panic considering your irrational fear of 'elves'."_

"But you don't look like an elf at all." Supplied the maid, struggling to stifle a yawn as she stretched her back. It was already past bedtime but she had most of her day tomorrow off being day of Void. No students in class meant less things to clean and less time listening to utterly pointless complains from the prickliest ones. "You don't even have ears."

" _And I am aware of that fact."_ If he could, he would have deadpanned, _"However after learning what I could from your most important idiosyncrasies, foreign beings are treated with nothing more than disdain, fear or both in most cases."_

Louise and Siesta nodded at this. With how much fear elves struck in the hearts of the people of Halkeginia, they were very reluctant to accept anything that wasn't human in their society.

Now, there was one last question before she could go to sleep. She was already feeling the exhaustion catching up with her again and her head began to hurt half an hour ago as she tried to keep up with Zeratul's story-telling.

"If the Void is as powerful as you say, I want to learn how to use it. I want to prove everyone that I can be a real mage." She requested. At her side, Siesta could be seen nodding in approval and she too asked.

"Yes, I want to know everything there's to know about my gift." She couldn't help but cheer internally, psionic powers sounded very dangerous and risky to learn. But leaving them unattended and not knowing what to do when they finally sparked within her mind could be even riskier.

If Zeratul could smile, he would have done so at the eagerness of both human females to learn what he had to offer. Frankly, while he wasn't very well versed in the use of psionics, he knew what there was to know to help Siesta control it and, if she was certain about this journal she had, they could find a way to teach her advanced techniques of the art.

For Louise it would be a bigger challenge. He was sure his knowledge of the Void could be translated as Void magic given the time, but there were only so many things he had learned about the nature of magic in this dimension. For all he knew, he could end up making her summon a warp rift that could tear the fabric of space-time continuum.

But that would only be the worst case scenario.

" _Very well. We will begin tomorrow when you finish spending the time you promised to Kirche Von Zerbst and Tabitha."_ He declared.

' _Crap'_ Thought the noble, she forgot about that.

Tomorrow would be a long day…


	8. Chapter 7 A Day in the Town

**Author Notes: I'm sorry, very sorry for almost being a week late to post this chapter. My monitor kept shutting down or half the screen goes black and it's very frustrating to try to write like this. (It's an old monitor, so that's that.) And also there's been a few things of medical nature going on. (Everything seems fine now, and no, I'm not the one afflicted.) But these days had me polishing this chapter to the best of my abilities and if there is someone upset of having this chapter late, then rest assured that I too am annoyed at this fact. However, I'm not feeling too confortable with having a chapter too big so I'm splitting it up. The next part should be updated sometime within a week or so.**

 **That being said, let's see the reviews.**

 **Me Myself and I: Thanks for pointing that out, I don't have any access to external sources other than the game and a few things on the wiki of Starcraft. If anyone feels like I'm skipping something, please let me know.**

 **necros434, Guest and buterflypuss: Thanks.**

* * *

Chapter 7. A Day in the Town

It was late in the morning when Louise woke up. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head, only to wince at her muscles protesting at the sudden movement. She scratched the back of her head in an unladylike manner and she grimaced at the thought of having to deal with the tangles and knots that appeared overnight after not brushing her hair before going to sleep.

The faint beeping of Zapper caught her attention as it idly hovered near the foot of the bed, not noticing her awakening. Seeing her familiar without Zeratul brought a question to her head. "I wonder what is making him disappear so often…" She said aloud. For someone who deemed himself to be her protector, and soon to be mentor, he gave her a lot of personal space. Dispelling that thought for the moment, she gave another look at the probe and felt relieved at knowing it was okay even after what happened yesterday.

Then, something unexpected happened that almost made her jump out of her bed in surprise. Namely, the rustling of her bedsheets and a soft, feminine groan coming from them.

With wide eyes, she recognized the figure of a maid sleeping peacefully in her bed. Louise, startled, scrambled over her own side of the mattress and fell off with an undignified yelp. The movement was enough to get Siesta to wake up, she shot up and clutched the bedsheets as if to cover herself even though she was still in her uniform. Zapper, if it could, would have shrugged off the sudden commotion and went back to idle.

The young mage was trying to calm herself, reminding her sleepy mind that her friend remained in her room, opting to spend the night here listening to Zeratul's tale instead of going back to the servants' quarters. Siesta for her part, was a little slower in trying to figure out where she was. Blinking owlishly, she took in her surroundings.

For one, Louise was strewn on the floor, regaining her breath with a disheveled appearance and her sleeping garments. And also, she herself was in her own uniform, it was wrinkled and a little itchy after spending something more than a whole day in it.

Before she could comment on it, a knock on the door broke the two girls out of their stupor. It was accompanied by the voice of one of the other maids in the academy. "Miss Valliére, are you alright? Mr. Colbert came earlier to speak with you but you didn't answer."

The pink haired girl rose to her feet and responded loud enough to be heard on the other side of the door. "I'm fine. I… uh, I was resting for a couple of hours. Surely you heard of yesterday's duel, right?"

"My apologies, Miss Valliére." Louise could almost listen something akin to admiration in her voice when the servant continued, "Yes, in fact, all of the staff in the school heard of it. We are thankful for your intervention, we were dreading Siesta was almost fired before you stepped in."

Elation blossomed in her chest at those words, she quickly suppressed it as she answered. "Think nothing of it. I was merely performing my duties as a noble. That maid did nothing wrong as far as I could tell and Guiche needed a much deserved wake up call." She turned back to see Siesta with a blush in her cheeks as she looked downwards and smoothed out the wrinkles in her uniform with her hands. "I believe breakfast is soon to begin." She said.

"Indeed, Miss. Valliére. Would you like me to fetch something for you?" Asked eagerly the maid.

"No, I will join the other students shortly. Please tell Mr. Colbert I will be busy most of today and I will speak with him as soon as I get the chance."

"Very well, Miss Valliére. Have a nice day." Said the maid and soon the silence that followed signaled for the departure. Louise half-sat, half-slumped herself on her bed, earning a curious glance from Siesta, who was quietly sitting at her side with a brush she grabbed from the desk nearby. Without nothing more than a nod, she let the maid to free her hair from those accursed knots in her otherwise silken hair.

Sighing, the girl being attended by the maid said. "Siesta, I believe today is going to be a long day."

"What do you mean, Miss Valliére?" Asked Siesta.

"Come on, Siesta. I will have to spend time with Zerbst and you know how well we get with one another." Siesta rolled her eyes. "Then we'll have to start our first lesson with Zeratul and now Mr. Colbert was to talk with me, probably about how I won the duel."

Frankly, now that she thought about it, Siesta had to agree with Louise. "Right, I forgot about that." She said sheepishly. "Come think of it, I can say the same for me. Some of the staff are probably worried about me too. After all, I didn't go back to my room last night."

"I'm sorry, Siesta. I didn't mean for you to stay here all night."

"Do not worry, Miss Valliére." Said the maid as she finished with brushing the last of those long pink locks she straightened. With a soft pat on the back, she let Louise know she was ready to leave the smaller girl to get dressed and go to have breakfast. "I'm sure no one is going to make a big deal out of it."

"I hope you're right, Siesta. I hope you're right."

Siesta left soon enough and Louise got herself in her school uniform. While today was day of Void and the students were free to go out of the academy at any time, it was encouraged by the staff for them to have their morning rituals within the school grounds to reassure themselves all of the students were accounted for.

As soon as she was ready to get out of her room, she called over Zapper to join her. The probe complied and hovered to her side. She opened the door and instinctively ducked and took a step to her side, away from the pair of bronze arms trying to glomp her.

She wasn't going to fall for it a third day in a row.

True to her instinct, Kirche Von Zerbst was left pouting as she grabbed nothing but air in her attempt to shove the smaller girl's face in her bosom. "You're not fun."

"What's with you and trying to suffocate me in those bags you flaunt everywhere!" She exclaimed with a huff.

Nonplussed, Kirche put a hand on her cocked hip. "It's the way I show affection, darling. But I suppose you tristanian prudes like to hide from basic displays of emotions." Shaking her head, she asked. "Anyway, why did you wake up so late?"

"It's not your business, Zerbst." Answered Louise curtly, crossing her arms and starting to head down to the dining hall.

"Ooh… Was it that maid you went to save yesterday? You know, I saw her leaving your room a few minutes ago." Louise tried to hurry her pace as she went downstairs, she'd rather risk tripping and falling a few floors than hearing to whatever farfetched theories Kirche wanted to make up. "She was in such a poor state, I must say."

"I don't know what you are talking about." It was the only response she could deign to give Kirche, not noticing the spreading grin on the redhead.

"Really?" Said the germanian as she caught up with the rushing tristanian. "I'm merely saying that it is strange that a maid, whom you saved, got out of your room in such a messy appearance and acting as if she was trying, and failing, to not trip on her own feet. Perhaps, she didn't get any sleep last night, hm?" She finished with a wink as she went past an almost petrified Louise.

"It was nothing like that, you perverted cow!" She yelled.

"Nothing like what? I'm didn't suggest anything." With that, she slipped away to the dining hall, where some of the staff was pestering with questions a poor, tired maid.

* * *

"Where were you? We've been looking for you all day!" Asked Melody, the maid who came to fetch Louise earlier this morning.

"I was asked to attend some of the older students with their beds. Heavens knows how much of a disaster they make." She lied. If she knew well how her peers acted whenever there was a rumor, it was best not to tell them she spent the night with Louise and was still there when Melody came by. The humiliation of someone gossiping and making up raunchy stories about the maid who decided to 'thank' the young maiden who saved her livelihood until dawn was enough to set her face ablaze with a blush.

"Huh… That's strange. I didn't see you there." Siesta gulped nervously. "I was sent to do that before I went to see Miss Valliére."

"Did I say older students? I mean, the teachers… You know that even the Headmaster acts like an overgrown student sometimes and I often mix them up whenever I talk about them, hehe…" She finished with a forced chuckle, hoping it was enough for Melody to stop asking about it.

With a reluctant sigh and a shake of her head, she let it go. "Siesta, if there is something bothering you, you know you can tell us. We commoners have to stick together if we want to stay sane around these magical brats. Just see what one almost did to you yesterday!"

"And another went and protected me!" She responded. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll be sure to tell you if there's something wrong, okay?"

"Fine…" Melody sighed. "Marteau wants to speak with you about Miss Valliére." Noticing the sudden distress in her friend's face, she continued. "It's nothing bad, I assure you, but you better hurry. He's been the most worried of us all, you know how much he cares about us."

"Sure, I'll be there in a moment." Siesta nodded and made her way to the kitchens.

True to Melody's word, the moment Siesta entered the kitchens, the chef Marteau turned to see her and enveloped her in an almost spine-crushing hug. She gasped and flailed, trying to wrench herself free, trying to remember what sweet, sweet air felt in her lungs. Darkness grew on the sides of her sight and her struggles grew weaker and weaker.

Luckily for her, Marteau noticed her suddenly blue face and released her, allowing her to take deep breaths as she hunched over her knees. "I'm sorry, Siesta. I got carried away. We were worried you didn't come back after taking care of Miss Valliére."

After regaining her breath, she said. "Yeah… Speaking of her, you wanted to tell me something?"

Patting her on the back, Marteau said. "Right, right. As you know, I despise the way these petty children treat some of you by reason of status." Seeing the girl open her mouth to reply, he interrupted. "With some recent exceptions, I'm sure you know who I am talking about."

"I guess that would be Miss. Valliére."

"Indeed, her. It is why I want you to tell me something." He leaned to ask her, "Why did she do what she did? Don't misunderstand, I'm thankful she helped you out, but these people don't run these kind of risks just because."

Frowning, Siesta tried to defend her friend. "But Marteau, I befriended her. And, granted, while our friendship has been short, I can tell I can trust her."

Marteau said nothing, unsure to believe in her words. He wasn't completely certain if this sudden friendship was something real or was a ruse to achieve an ulterior move. After all the things the noble people have done to the commoners in Halkeginia in all his years, he couldn't help but feel overprotective of his co-workers and friends. For him, they were something akin to a family, with him being the overbearing father of them all.

In the end, he gave in. His suspicions of the Valliére were still in his mind, but seeing the adamant trust Siesta had in her, he decided the most prudent course of action was to let her be and wait to be wrong in his gut instinct. But until that day happened, he would keep his thoughts to himself.

"Very well, if you think she is trustworthy, I believe you." He exhaled as Siesta nodded eagerly, "But trust me on this: If she ever does something to hurt you, or anyone of us, no amount of magic will save her from an irate cook."

Siesta, once again, nodded feverishly. Sweat falling from her brow in embarrassment, she would expect this kind of threat from her father if some guy tried to court her. But despite the fact it was coming from someone else she hadn't expected at all, his words brought enough strength in them to be valid in such a light thing as her choice in friendships.

"Don't worry, Marteau. I'm sure no harm will come to pass." After a brief pause of silence, interrupted by him barking orders at those servants who stopped working to overhear their little chat, Siesta asked. "Um… If it's not too much to ask, can you help me with something?"

"Sure, what do you need?" He answered jovially, as if their conversation never took place.

"You see… May I borrow the stove for a while?"

* * *

Back in the dining hall, Louise was quietly poking at her meal. Nothing much, just a serving of lamb bathed in some sauce of obscure name, like any other kind of seasoning she was used to have in her food, with a helping of potatoes, carrots and rice. In other circumstances, she would be indifferently eating as everyone else minded their own business, merrily forgetting her cares on the world that didn't include her dining manners and thanks to the Founder.

But these were not usual circumstances as once again, Kirche and Tabitha chose to sit beside her, with Louise at the middle. Idly noting the surprising rate in which the galian consumed her food considering her small frame and how the barbarian of a Zerbst had impeccable table manners despite her inheritance. She had paid little to no attention to the two of them before she became somewhat relevant to the current rumor mill and it was interesting for her to learn this kind of details about them.

Her musing were interrupted when she felt a finger poking at her face as she did with her fork, the one totally used for meat and not the one used for vegetables, to her food. She turned her head almost to receive a poke in the eye as Kirche finally managed to grab her attention.

"You know. We're going to be out for most of the day, so it would be better if you eat something before we leave."

"Right," Said Louise, disinterested in spending her free day with the redhead. "How could I ever forget such an event." She sarcastically said. Earning a deadpan from the germanian and a raised eyebrow from Tabitha.

"Outrageous! Someone of a status such as yours sassing another noble? What manner of wicked sorcery is this?" Kirche theatrically responded, catching the eye of some other students, already whispering among themselves. Leaning closer to Louise, she continued, "You better be ready in an hour, we're going to Tristain to have some shopping done. Tabs already agreed on taking us there with Sylphid." The mentioned girl just nodded once without giving pause to her feeding, confirming her words.

Honestly, it kind of surprised Louise how the galian was agreeing with the germanian. For all she knew, she could've assumed she Tabitha was going to refuse borrowing her familiar for something as trivial as this. "How did you managed to make her agree to this?" She asked.

"It was simple, after months of being the friend of someone like my little Tabitha, you tend to pick up a-"

"Promised new books."

"That too." Amended Kirche.

The youngest of the Valliére didn't know how to process this information, and it wasn't like she could use her familiar for a distraction as she sent it to the stables where no doubt it was being a nuisance to whoever was trying to take care of it. If Zeratul wasn't exaggerating with the advancements of protoss technology, Zapper would know how to stay out of trouble and keep acting idle for an hour or two without causing much of a ruckus.

A distant roar of a dragon seemed to make her confidence in her familiar's capabilities to understand simple instructions to falter.

* * *

"Ooohh… It's so shiny! And adorable! And huggable!" Gushed a blue dragon as it, she, grabbed the probe between her claws and inspected it closely. Ignoring the frantic beeping of Zapper.

There were not many things that could harm a dragon, their scales and innate magic acting as the most resistant of natural protection. As such, the brave attempts of the mechanical being to zap its way to freedom were met with rambunctious laughter, Sylphid barely acknowledging them for tickles.

For someone who didn't understand the majestic language of draconesse, that laughter could be misinterpreted by roars of fury as the dragon shook furiously the strange familiar of the Zero.

* * *

" _I am so going to dismantle him."_ She thought as the roars didn't stop for a few minutes and Tabitha grew uneasy. Debating on either running to make sure her familiar was safe and sound, or to keep herself calm and trust Sylphid on not playing too rough with some of the familiars.

For her part, Kirche was content with watching her best friend and her acquaintance squirm in their seats as she went to forgo her table manners and lazily bring pieces of potato to her mouth with the other hand supporting her tilted head. Her entertainment was cut short, however, by the sudden appearance of a maid she instantly recognized.

Siesta was carrying a platter with one hand as the other took hold of its cover. She took delicate steps, not wanting to trip by one of the chairs on her way. For the germanian, it was strange, neither of them ordered anything else besides what they were served. Apart from the wine and bread that was always accompanying the meals.

"Excuse me, excuse me," She gently said. When she reached the three girls, she spoke. "Miss. Valliére, I wanted to thank you for helping me out, so I thought something for dessert should be in order." She uncovered the platter and left the sweet smell of the pastries within to waft over the girls, catching the attention of their noses.

"Are those…?" Louise began to ask.

"Funnel cakes? Yes, they are." Answered the maid with a nod and an expression of satisfaction at seeing her friend almost drool over her recently made pastries. Then, she noticed the nearly full plate of stew cooling down in front of the pink haired girl and then glanced at Kirche and Tabitha giving her their full attention. Mostly to her hand holding the platter.

"Miss. Valliére, why haven't you eaten at all? It would be irresponsible of my part to give you dessert if you haven't had at least something more nutritious before." Softly reprimanded the maid. No one would dare to comment about the whine, which totally didn't happen, coming from Louise, given her recent victory.

"Don't worry, little Louise," Came Kirche's cheeky words, "I'll make sure to keep those things safe while you eat." She stretched one hand to grab one of the funnel cakes, only to be slapped away by Tabitha's gnarled staff. "Hey! I was just going to get a closer look."

A hit on her head and the small girl saying "No." was sufficient to make the germanian huff and cross her arms at the act of mutiny from her now not so best friend.

"May I?" Asked Tabitha, making the redhead to stare at her incredibly. Siesta complied and drew the platter closer to her, allowing her to take one of the various pastries in it. "Thank you."

" _Aw, c'mon! Why her and not me?"_ Thought both Louise and Kirche, the former already halfway through her meal. Siesta, however, almost recoiled at herself feeling the annoyance the two girls felt in mocking jealousy. To say it was a strange experience a sudden influx of external emotions was an understatement to begin with. It was weird to know, even if it was just barely, the superficial feelings of another person. She hid her small shock with a cough.

The two family rivals took her faux pass as something else, thinking of it as Siesta subtly telling them to having to ask first before having dessert like Tabitha did. In the moment it took the maid to muse over her recent discovery, Louise had only just finished her food and Tabitha was done with her pastry. Kirche had still the unbelieving look on her face she had a few minutes ago, even if it was more for playful show than anything else.

"I made a few more than necessary since I knew you three would be spending most of the day together." The Valliére remembered the source of her misery. "Miss. Valliére, I'm sorry I won't be able to join you as I have work to do for the rest of the day. I wish you luck and please, promise me you will try to at least tolerate them while you're out there, okay?" Finished Siesta with a bow.

"Yes, Siesta." Grumbled Louise, grabbing one of the sweets, there were a few more than they could eat at the moment. So she asked, "Would you mind giving us a basket to take them in our trip?"

"Of course, I'll be back in a moment." With that, she left the platter in front of the girls and went to the kitchens. Kirche took advantage of the free pastries in front of her and tried to snatch one of them only to be slapped away this time by Louise, who then asked.

"Are you going to ask first?"

"As if, you two had already had one, it's my turn." She proceeded to eat on of them, enjoying the sugary and crisp exterior and the soft, doughy interior. Cleaning her hands with a napkin, she asked the tristanian, "Say, now that you had breakfast, shall we go?"

"Fine, we'll go as soon as Siesta comes back."

The sound of footsteps and apologies signaled their time to leave was now.

It took a few moments for the trio to reach the stables where the familiars were being kept. Tabitha raised a hand to stop her companions and then whistled loudly. A soft rumbling was the response she got when Sylphid came barreling into the girls. She stopped a foot or two in front of them and sank down to her haunches and raised her head to let Tabitha pat her on the head.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Asked Louise, fidgeting in place.

"Pfft, of course it's safe! Tabs, tell her." Prompted Kirche, elbowing the pinkette in the ribs, much to her annoyance.

"She's strong. Can handle this." Came the curt words from the master of the dragon. With no other words, she climbed on the back of Sylphid and waited for the other two to join her. The germanian enthusiastically jumped to her spot on the scaly body and brought a hand to Louise, who reluctantly grabbed and boosted herself up near the tail, with the basket safely secured on her other arm.

The blue dragon rose to its feet and with a mighty flap of her wings she began her trip in the skies with direction to the capital. Unaware of the shifting, transparent form that followed close by the crowns of whatever trees were in her path.

From the sky everything always seemed to appear way closer than what it really was. Taking for instance the distance between the academy and the capital of Tristain. Louise could already see the white castle after a few minutes of flying on Sylphid, and it would be a breathtaking moment if she didn't have the sight of Kirche's back right in front of her at the moment, or the way that she pressed her back to Louise's front. It was a rare moment like this when she wasn't at all bothered by her lack of frontal development.

"So," Exclaimed Kirche, breaking Louise out of her stupor, "Where do we go first?"

"I thought you knew. After all, it was you who proposed this whole thing!" The Valliére's response went, having to raise her voice to be heard over the wind.

"Very well, if you insist." Went cheekily Kirche with a wink, making the other girl to hope for the day to be over. "I was thinking on going over some jewelry, then to the tailor to get a new nightgown because the last one was –ahem, victim of a very impatient guest a few nights-"

"Agh! Too much information!" Yelled Louise with a red face, Tabitha could be seen nodding in agreement. "I don't want to know whatever debauchery you partake, you filthy barbarian!"

Said germanian shrugged, "Ok, ok. Fine. Geez, what a prude." She grumbled, "Then we're going to the weapon shop, if you keep insisting I am the barbarian you claim, then I hope you're not too bothered by seeing if you pansy tristanians know a thing or two about weaponry. How about that?"

"Yes, yes. Anything to help me erase the thought of you with a ripped nightgown out of my mind." She shivered in disgust as Kirche turned and laughed at her expression. A couple of tugs on her cape, made her turn back to Tabitha.

"We're here."

True to her word, they had arrived at the outskirts of the city. Even from here, they could already hear the bustling of the people going about with their daily routines. There were a few ambulant merchants selling their wares and some children helping their parents with calling out others to approach their stores. Other people were going in and out of establishments that no doubt doubled as homes to whomever worked there, each and one of those places being labeled with their respective symbols and showy name for those who were fortunate enough to read.

The three girls left Sylphid to enter the city proper without causing undue panic. Even if the mages knew the dragon wouldn't try to willingly harm a bystander, others might not take the presence of a beast such as Sylphid too kindly.

They came across one of the main streets of Tristain, taking in the wide space for the citizens to walk freely and the odd carriage to travel without a hitch. Walking around, looking for a place for their first stop, they heard the faint, rhythmic clanks and strikes from one of the local smiths hidden among the bustling white sound of the urban life. Kirche was immediately drawn to the noise and her two companions went to follow her.

"Hey, let's see if the guy at the forge has something pretty." She called out. While blacksmiths were mostly known for making pieces of armor and weaponry of all forms of metal, they also were held as one of the columns that supported their society by making horseshoes, tools and any other items of all sorts of metal. Some of those non-war related things, were often pieces of crafted jewelry that mixed both the natural beauty of precious metals and gems, and the artful manipulation of such materials to make memorable ornaments to be worn, hanged on the wall, or passed down as family heirlooms.

Kirche led the others to the increasing sound of a hammer pounding away at the current work of the blacksmith. The place was open, allowing the heat of the forge to disperse and letting the smith to work without cooking himself alive. He didn't notice the new arrivals to his business, too focused on the task at hand.

"Hello!" Said the redhead in a sing-song voice, making herself known. The man looked up to see the gorgeous germanian waving at him.

"Good morning." He greeted, "My name's Alexander, welcome to my forge." He gestured to the counter behind him. "It's unusual for me for clients such as yourselves to be in an establishment like this one. What can I do for you?"

The students went over the few items that lay there for sale. There wasn't much, just a few pairs of earrings, a couple of necklaces and less rings than what could be used in a single hand. They could already know why the owner of the place was surprised to see them here, apparently not many people came to see wares that weren't tools or weapons.

Louise wasn't entirely enthralled by the low variety of items, but she could appreciate the care that came with the construction of each and one of them. They weren't the most beautiful ornaments she had seen, per se, but they were adequate for lower nobility or those few commoners who wanted a few pretty things for themselves.

"What do you think?" Asked Kirche, leaning closer to a delicate golden necklace.

"I don't know. It's not like I am in desperate need for something like this, but they're nice nonetheless." Responded Louise, looking at a ring.

"Meh." Surmised Tabitha in that eloquent way of hers. In the background, Alexander could be seen slumping with a whimper.

"Well, if you aren't going to buy something, then I'm going to do some business with our friend with a wounded pride over here." Announced the germanian. She made her way to the smith and produced a gem from the handbag she'd been carrying since they left the academy.

"Hey, Alexander." She called out to the man, "I have a work for you."

"What do you need, Miss?" He asked, eyeing the shiny object.

"This here," She showed him the piece of comprised, crystalline rock. "Is a gem only found near the craters of the volcanos found in the most inhospitable lands Germania has to offer." It was of a vibrant yellow that seemed to shine with an unnatural glow that seemed to shift and swirl from the changes in the angles of the light. It was the size of a squirrel's head and had an uneven shape, roughly spherical with small growths on its surface. "It is quite easy to break, so you must be careful when working on it."

"I will take your word for it." Nodded Alexander. "But you still haven't told me what you want me to do with it."

"I want a necklace with this pretty thing as the centerpiece." She said.

"What do you want the chain to be made from?" He asked, making Kirche to stop and think for a moment.

"I want it from gold, and the piece holding the gem has to be of silver, if it's not much of a bother." She decided.

"Very well, it will be done in a week." Said the smith, going to the counter to jot down the order. "I need some time to get my other things done and then get the materials before I start."

"Do you have a price?" She asked.

"Not for the moment. But since you've already provided me with the gem, then I would suppose about 10 ecú. Perhaps a little less." He estimated.

"Very well, I'll be back on next day of Void." She turned to her companions, "C'mon girls, we have a tailor to see next."

They nodded and followed Kirche back to the street. They wandered around as they looked for the tailor's shop. However, half an hour into their search, they stumbled upon someone they didn't expect to.

"Guiche?" Louise said, making him turn to her. She flinched at his neglected hair and the bruise still resting in the middle of his face. His eyes wore bags underneath them and the way he made his way to the girls spoke of tiredness and fatigue.

"Ah, Miss. Valliére. What a surprise to see you here!" He exclaimed. He cleared his throat, "I… I want to apologize to you for my less than honorable actions recently. I made a mistake and didn't want to look like a fool only to end up looking worse than I wanted to avoid."

The young girl was taken aback with his sudden apology. Honestly, she expected him to treat the whole ordeal as a lucky exchange for her, or at least ignore it happened at all. "Why are you apologizing to me? If anything you should be apologizing that maid you blamed instead."

"Yes, yes. I will. But my dear Montmorency posed a few… nice points in having to swallow my own pride and accept when I am bested. Until then, I will accept whatever conditions you have to make it up to you." He explained. The eyebrows of both Kirche and Tabitha shot up at the mention of having to make things even.

"She will accept those terms happily!" Exclaimed the germanian, placing an arm over Louise's shoulder. She turned to Tabitha and asked, "Isn't that right, Tabs? Louise?"

The quiet girl gave a few enthusiastic nods

"Fine, I accept your apology." She turned to the other girls. "You said we were going to get you a new nightgown, Zerbst. Do you think they have something my size?"

"I don't know, what do you have in mind?"

"I think a couple of new uniforms should be in order. Your treat, Guiche, and we'll call it even."

And so, the three girls went on their way with the boy in tow. No doubt one of them would feel their pockets a lot thinner soon enough.


	9. Chapter 8 A Day Unseen

**Author Notes: Well... This chapter is going to be a bit shorter than usual. It's been quite a hectic week for me, this summer is being relentless with the heat and my fan broke down leaving me to my own devices (or lack thereoff) to keep my computer from heating. On other news, I replaced the my old monitor by an even older one (a CRT). Now I can enjoy blurriness in all of its splendor.**

 **But on the other side, I'm really glad you guys are enjoying this fic. I'm thinking of making a few omakes on the next one, what do you think?**

 **Personally, I find it very inspiring to see authors who can keep up with writing multiple stories at a time without falling out of schedule and also have the drive and imagination to make sidestuff and all that. I really hope I can be at their level some day.**

 **Now, on to the reviews:**

 **Artyom-Dreizehn: Yeah, I do too. To be honest, I think I like more the stories that tell what the heroes and villains do when they're not saving the world or trying to take over it, or what are the secondary characters up to whenever they're not being used as plot devices or comedic relief.**

 **mangalover521: I invite you to read this chapter to find out.**

 **doom2099 and buterflypuss: Thanks!**

* * *

Chapter 8. A Day Unseen.

The trek between the academy and Tristain was a relatively short one for one such as Zeratul. If one wanted to compare the distance between a small forest and a few solar systems, the former seemed inconsequential in both means of transportation and time. Even if the space he had to travel was short, his trip was even faster when all he had to do was to trail a flying lizard of the size of his old, personal ship.

Once the humans left the dragon behind, he approached it. Its capability of flight was something he had seen a few times before on different animal species he had come across during the years, unlike some zerg like the mutalisk or the corruptor, this lizard-like creature used its wings to propel itself and glide through the air instead of using a gas or electromagnetic based propulsion system.

He made sure to not get too close to the dragon as it stood at attention, probably to wait for its master. After all, some animals were gifted with the ability to sense others who tried to sneak up on them through a wide myriad of methods. The protoss went past the familiar and followed the path the girls had taken to acquire whatever goods they searched for.

Zeratul was barely acquainted with the layout of the small town, having explored it earlier when he was summoned. His charge couldn't have gotten too far in his absence, so he blinked away to the rooftops in order to have a vantage point to locate her easily. Still invisible to the naked eye and the inattentive, his presence went unnoticed to the townsfolk.

And then he saw them.

The three girls were in the middle of one of the main roads that crossed the small town. Old instincts telling him to pay attention to the people around them. Because, after all, terrans- or in this case, humans- acted like all young civilizations did: acted for their own personal gain. It wasn't different for his people at some points in history. This time, however, that aspect was bound to be more pronounced if he considered human nature into play.

He saw as they changed direction to a small, open, wooden structure with a roaring fire burning under a chimney and a man hammering away at a piece of metal. One of the earlier stages of the manipulation of metal and overall manufacturing techniques in one of the more primitive types of forges. Even if the method and tools were outdated and useless by protoss standards, it was one of the most important stages for the growth of any society, it was held with great respect to this day regardless of the almost unrecognizable changes it experienced through the centuries. Forges kept the same name for a reason.

Still during his pondering, he kept watch of his charge as she inspected crude ornamental pieces of varying aspects, none of them special in any shape, way or form. Sparing a glace to the street in front of the forge, he noticed someone familiar.

Guiche was walking near the entrance of the town, his arrival was recent, Zeratul assumed. He kept a hurried pace, looking always over his shoulders with a worried expression on his face. People to whom he accidentally bumped briefly looked at the boy with annoyance or anger, depending on their temperament, and then changed almost instantly to either panic at the sight of a noble or with feigned indifference. The blond moved his lips as if mumbling to himself as he briefly flickered his attention in the direction of the academy from time to time. Zeratul saw him enter to an establishment with a small board of bottle of colored liquid hanging from above the entrance. His curiosity sated, the Dark Templar then shifted his eyes to the forge and what he saw almost made him run down there and confirm what he saw.

" _Jorium."_ He whispered. There was no mistaking it, it was too dull to be solarite and the psionic emissions, while muffled, gave away the identity of the unrefined crystal. Its presence sparked various questions on his mind. _"I must investigate where it comes from as soon as possible. There's no telling what could happen if any of this humans discover what kind of resources they have."_

But then other thought came to mind, _"However... this jorium is encased in a mineral structure… But there's no way to fabricate anything, let alone anything in reach to warp in."_ He concluded as he recalled he was in an entirely different dimension. _"Even so, I have to make sure these humans don't discover the psionic properties of this element. The magic they possess is powerful enough already, if they figure out the true potential of the mind there could be a catastrophe."_

He observed as the human with red hair handed the piece of jorium to the smith and traded some words with him. She turned to her companions and the three headed back to the street where they wandered for a while as he followed from above.

At the same time, he noted that Guiche came out of the building he was in with a glum expression, kicking dirt every few steps without looking forward.

Zeratul looked, lightly amused, as they boy and the group of girls came within reach of each other. But instead of the panic he expected from Guiche, the boy started speaking with them with a slew of apologies. Now closer, Zeratul heard the blond offering to accomplish anything to gain the forgiveness of Louise. It came to peer pressure, but she finally accepted his offer of temporal servitude for the rest of their shopping trip.

The protoss couldn't understand why the young human male started sweating profusely as he was dragged away burdened with the activity of gathering new clothing. If he recalled well enough, protoss didn't struggle with the choice of garments, as robes, capes and armor were often worn at all times during this millennium full of conflict and war. This variety of clothing wasn't so short because they lacked imagination or a sense of aesthetic design, far from it, the reason behind it was the sense of purpose it gave. In a period of time where war was always present, when the fate of an entire race was bleak with extinction and doom, his people, especially the Nerazim, did everything to keep themselves from mentally crumbling as individuals by decorating their armor with the bones of fallen zerg and gemstones, the latter helping powering the inner workings of their personal shielding systems.

Also the lack of sweat glands in protoss biology helped at not having too many sets of outfits.

The group of students went to another building, one placed near the corner to a narrow street. It was in one of the busiest places of the town, where buildings began to stand fused one to another. The tailor was labeled the same way the others were, with a board hanging outside with a drawing of their expected wares. The boy of the group seemed shaken at the prospect of going in there. Humans appeared to become quirkier the longer Zeratul studied them.

Once they left his line of sight, he descended discreetly from the roof he was on. He approached the window and saw as they talked with the tailor, assuming from the smile on the tailor it was going pleasantly well. Sensing no imminent danger, he left the people inside alone and went to another place.

He overheard what the germanian said when she teased Louise, the weapon shop could be their next potential destination. Knowing the mages were going to be safe for the time being, he went to the nearest weapon shop to make sure they wouldn't get themselves in any trouble, considering Louise's already short temper and her current troupe.

Fortunately, what he assumed was the weapon shop was further down the narrow street, melded with the other buildings as a wall of wood, stone and doors. Seeing no windows near the entrance to the shop, Zeratul waited until somebody decided to go in as well. He could blink inside, but he had no idea of what furniture could be in there that could hinder his entry.

Luckily for him, he hadn't had to wait for too long until a man decided to walk in with a hilt attached to a broken blade. A useless weapon. The protoss entered the shop being careful to not touch the angry man and what he saw almost made him cringe as the warrior he was.

The weapons were arranged without any semblance of order. The axes that hung on display were rusty or had chips on their blade. Whatever swords he saw were in the same state of disrepair inside a barrel located near a wall. Other assortment of weapons was in a dusty corner as a jumbled mess.

The owner of the place walked up from behind the counter, noticing the man with a broken weapon. "Welcome, welcome to my shop. How can I be of service?" He greeted with obviously faked cheer.

"You can start by explaining this, you rat!" Yelled the customer, throwing the hilt of what used to be a sword at the counter. It clinked pitifully at the contact and the remainders of the blade fractured even further.

"Whatever you mean, my good sir?" Asked nervously the merchant.

"You sold me this rusty piece of garbage. It broke on the first swing!" Continued the man, "I demand a refund!"

"Ah… well, you certainly weren't careful with this antique piece of such historical value. It was bound to break, it was only for… exhibition." Defended the merchant, trying to save his hide.

"That's a load of bull! You told me it was for heavy duty." He exclaimed angrily. "I should report you to the authorities right now."

"Ha ha ha. He's got you now, swindler!" Laughed someone from somewhere.

The customer, startled, asked. "Who said that?"

"Nothing, it's nothing!" Said the merchant, trying to calm the man down.

"Oh, you wound me, old man. How can you say I'm nothing?" Asked the same voice as the barrel of swords rattled. "After all, talking swords are quite something, if I do say so myself!"

The man paled and almost knocked into Zeratul as he ran to the exit. In his panic, he yelled, "Aaaahh! Cursed sword!"

"Derflinger, you piece of junk! You costed me another client."

"I did? Huh, and I thought I was saving you from that guy who was going to sue you or something." Replied the sword.

Unable to come up with a response, the owner of the shop went back to the storage room behind the counter. Then, after a few seconds of silence, the sword spoke once again. "And who are you trying to fool with that invisibility nonsense?"

" _A detector, it seems."_ Zeratul said as he uncloaked himself. _"Trying to deceive you would be futile."_

"Wow, you're ugly." Said the voice from the barrel of swords. The rattling that followed made the protoss to come closer to it and peer its contents. "If it helps you, I'm the one that talks." Joggled one of them, specifically the piece that met the blade with the guard, acting like a mouth.

The Templar grabbed Derflinger and inspected him closely. The metal was rusty, but not overly so, and it showed clear signs of disuse. The hilt sported an old leather wrap that had seen better times and was barely big enough for one of his hands. The single edge of the sword suggested that the wielder had to be rather dexterous instead of a brute to use it properly.

" _It doesn't seem to have any cybernetic components to communicate with."_

"Oi! Bad touch, bad touch." Said the sword at being manhandled. "I don't know what you mean by cyber-thingies, but I'm telling you, I talk because I am the soul in the sword, the spirit in the blade, the powerful, magical, amazing, and marvelous: Derflinger!" Boasted the rusty piece of metal.

" _A soul, you say."_ Murmured the protoss. _"Encased against your will or perhaps infused within the blade to save your life?"_ Asked Zeratul, recalling the role of the dragoons and immortals.

"Nah, nothing like that. I was created to be in this blade." He answered, "Though, I have to say, I've never seen anything like you. What are you?"

" _I am Zeratul, Dark Templar of the protoss"_

"The what?"

Zeratul was about to explain the sword about his people, when suddenly the owner of the shop came back to the counter and stopped abruptly at the sight of the alien in the middle of his establishment.

"M-m-monster! Hel-" He didn't get to finish as a shimmering barrier enveloped his whole body, freezing him in place.

"Whoa, what did you do to him?" Asked Derflinger in wonder. "I always wanted to shut him up. He's always trying to keep me from telling my amazing jokes."

" _A Void prison. It will keep him frozen in time for a few seconds as I escape from here."_

"Cool, can I come with you? It's very boring in here." Requested the sword in his hand. "We Void attuned folks must stay together."

" _Very well, you have piqued my interest."_ Conceded the protoss as he got out of the weapon shop. He made his way back to the rooftops, cloaked once again to the naked eye, and went to keep his watch over his charge.

* * *

Back inside the shop, the form of the shopkeeper began to flicker in and out of the shimmering prison that kept him silent. After a few seconds, he regained control over his body.

"Huh, what? What was I doing?" He asked to no one in particular.

Silence was the only response he got, instead of the usual sarcastic reply from the annoying sword.

"Well, you have nothing to say, you piece of junk?" He asked to the air once again, meeting the same result.

"Bah, it doesn't matter. I can finally enjoy some peace and quiet after all these years." He said before the door opened once again, this time there were three girls and a boy clad in uniforms of the academy of magic.

"For the last time, Zerbst. My nightgown doesn't need to show more skin!" Yelled the loud, pink one, glaring at the tallest of the group.

"Hello and welcome to my humble shop. Nothing illegal or shady going on, no no no. He he." He finished lamely at the thought of the last client unsatisfied by his products.

"…Right." Said Guiche, struggling to carry the clothes the girls bought at the tailor.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else." Said Louise, "Something feels off…"

"Nonsense, Valliére." Kirche walked to the counter and she leaned on the counter, her assets accentuated from her position. She turned to the shopkeeper, "Say, do you have anything of interest for a lady like me?"

The man was left sputtering before he caught himself and said. "Excuse me for a moment, I may have just the right thing for you." He quickly went to the storage room.

"See? There's nothing to worry about." She said to the pink haired girl. Guiche and Tabitha didn't butt in with the banter, as they two were more attentive at the lack of proper care of the wares in the store.

Louise sighed, "Fine, you win. But I don't understand why we're here."

Inspecting her nails, Kirche answered, "Remember that you told me that I was such a barbarian and I told you that since you thought so lowly of me, I should take your word for it and get something that matched my tastes. Or you've already forgot?"

"I thought you were being sarcastic!" Louise said incredulously.

Not sooner after Louise spoke, the merchant came back carrying a big and heavy sword made of solid gold, gems and complex engravings on it. "Here you go, my lady. A sword enchanted by the best germanian alchemists to be a blade that can cut through anything and is almost unbreakable."

"It looks splendid." Commented the germanian, leaning further on the counter. "How much would it be for someone like me?"

The man gulped and said, "It would be four thousand écu."

Kirche's eyes widened and she lost her smirk in a split second, "Excuse me?" In the background, Louise had to hide her own grin. _'Very well. It's time to scam the scammer.'_ She thought.

Break

Zeratul didn't know if it was wise of him to grab the talking piece of metal. The only things that it had said that were of relevance were that Derflinger was created six thousand years ago, by the same time this Brimir character lived and founded this continent's religion. Apparently, Derflinger was a synthetic soul encased within a sword.

But it was the only thing that he could say since the old age had caused him to forget various details of his life, or what could be considered as life when you're a piece of metal. Zeratul, then asked. _"Do you remember your last wielder"_

"Yep," Derflinger answered, "He was a lowly thief, not much of a stabby person, so he decided to pawn me off. Not very fond of that one, though."

The protoss rubbed his chin, _"You mentioned being Void attuned. How?"_

The sword made a sound of clearing his throat. "Well, call me crazy if you like. But I can swear that I can never forget a magic such as that. There's something familiar about it."

" _The mysteries grow."_ Said Zeratul. _"However, the answers must wait. For I have some matters on my hands that require careful handling."_

"Ooh, what is it? Can I help?" Asked eagerly Derflinger.

" _We shall see."_ Responded the protoss as he saw the group of students exiting the weapon shop with Kirche sporting a satisfied smirk, Louise huffing with a red face, Guiche carrying an oversize sword shaped slab of gold and a pile of clothes, and an impassive Tabitha following closely.

If he had stayed for longer, he would have caught the eyes of Tabitha staring at a floating sword on top of the roofs.

But he didn't, as he turned to follow the group on their way to the dragon.

The three girls got to the familiar of the blue haired wind mage, Guiche had to take a carriage to carry the items they purchased. Sylphid lowered her head to let her master and her friends to climb up.

As they climbed, Louise said. "I still can't believe you managed to get that sword for a hundred écu."

Kirche brushed her hair aside and told her, "Well, little Louise, you can always get what you want when you have the right argument."

"What argument?! You just flaunted those bags on your chest until he lowered the price." Accused the Valliére, "Even so, if you're so good at negotiating, why didn't you try that with the tailor and the blacksmith?"

It was true, they accepted the prices that were offered to them without any argument. But then again, they weren't attempting to rob them of exorbitant sums of money, honestly, four thousand écu were more than the allowance she was given in three years.

"Different." Said Tabitha, interrupting her thoughts.

"Beg your pardon?" Asked Louise, wanting to understand a little better.

"Different mindsets. Blacksmith and tailor were honest, they earned those prices." Tabitha gave the sign for her familiar to begin the trip back to the academy. "The shopkeeper was phony."

"I suppose that makes sense…" Said Louise.

"Well, Valliére. Did you enjoy yourself?" Asked Kirche, leaning back to the girl she was talking to.

The tristanian was silent for a moment before she gave her answer. "It was… tolerable." Came the careful assortment of words. "Honestly, Guiche tagging along was not something that I was expecting, even less so to apologize."

"Yeah, isn't that right, Tabitha?" Said Kirche.

"Good beast of burden." Came her response. If one were to be looking at her face, the small smile threatening to break through her usual deadpan would have come off as a surprise.

"Ouch."

"But all in all," Continued Louise, "It wasn't too bad of an experience."

"Aw… Look, Tabby." Cheered Kirche, "We're friends now!"

"Don't put words in my mouth, Zerbst!"

"Oh, you want me to take them back? I'll need to get really close to snatch them back out of there~" Teased Kirche with a waggle of her eyebrows.

For the protoss following them from below, it was going to be a rather lively trip back to the academy.


	10. Chapter 9 A Night of Learning

**Author Notes: Having no internet for a few days is strange. Still, I'd rather had had it on the weekend so I could've uploaded this sooner and catch up on some reading. But still, it gave me some time to write a little extra at the bottom of the chapter.**

 **On another, completely unrelated, stuff. I just saw the DOOM Eternal gameplay trailer and I'm very hyped for it.**

 **Now let's see the reviews.**

 **buterflypuss and doom2099: Thanks!**

 **Firefly: I wish it could be just as easy, I have been cooking up a plan for that though.**

* * *

Chapter 9. A Night of Learning.

On the start of the evening, a flying figure appeared near the walls of the Academy of Magic. Its visage catching the eyes of the more sheltered students and the newest of workers in the academy. Dragons as they were, were a rare kind of familiar to summon, often attributed to those mages who showed a great deal of potential in their futures. Truly a sight to behold.

For whoever standing near the landing creature, however, said majesty was cut short by the heated discussion of the passengers riding the dragon. Quickly banishing the awe and the inspiration the magical being gave off.

"For the last time, Zerbst. I don't believe in the leech treatment for breast enlargement!" Came the annoyed voice of Louise the Zero. "Those bloodsuckers are used by madmen pretending to be doctors who try to take advantage of poor people who can't get the help from water mages."

"Come on, Louise. Those bugs are said to be the next greatest thing." Said Kirche, "I've heard about the miraculous properties of the leeches from the outskirts of Rub'al Kali." She turned to Tabitha, "Don't you think so, Tabs?"

The wind mage shook her head and then pointed at the ground. "It's dangerous. Can I go read now?"

Louise looked triumphantly at the redhead as she smiled sheepishly, then they both got down from Sylphid. The germanian dusted herself off the crumbs left by the treats Siesta gave them and then she brought the basket for Louise to grab. The girls were about to go inside the building when suddenly one of the caretakers of the stables chasing Louise's familiar.

"Come here, you- you thing!" He exclaimed as they both went in the direction of the students. He didn't notice the shift in the direction of their mad dash as the probe caught sight of the Valliére girl arriving the school grounds. Then the man went to tackle the troublesome familiar to send it back to the stables before he saw the master of the creature looking at him oddly, not angry per se, but with a mix of confusion and annoyance and he stopped in his tracks.

The probe slipped past the trio of girls and with a sharp turn it went behind the pink haired girl, giving a few beeps as a manner of greeting. The caretaker gulped air and he addressed the young noble. "Miss Valliére, thank the Founder I found you. I'm afraid to tell you that there is an issue with your familiar."

"An issue, is there something wrong?" She asked. Her companions stood close to listen in, not showing any signs of discretion.

"Yes, Miss Valliére. As a caretaker it is my duty to see that all familiars are looked after and kept safe while their summoner is absent." He pointed at the unruly familiar. "As such, I have to make it known that your familiar hasn't eaten anything all day and has been scaring away the other familiars." He explained.

"I see…" Murmured Louise, recalling what Zeratul taught her about the power source of the probes and the large majority of the protoss mechanical units. "There is nothing to worry about, caretaker."

Both the caretaker and the other two girls' eyebrows shot up at that, not expecting this kind of answer instead of either a freakout or a berating to the man before her. Then he asked, "But why do you say that, Miss Valliére?"

Recalling her sister's large menagerie of animals and the number of servants that help feeding them and taking care of them, Louise said. "One of my elder sisters has a deep appreciation of the animal kingdom and as such she knows nearly everything there is to know about proper care of exotic species. I sent her a letter after I summoned Zapper and just today I received some advice on how to look after it." The caretaker nodded, waiting for her to continue. "She told me that my familiar feeds off sunlight."

"Sunlight? Are you certain, Miss Valliére?" Asked the confused man. "As far as I know the only things that use sunlight are plants."

"Are you doubting my word, caretaker?" Challenged Louise. Meanwhile, Zapper looked at her with its bright, pink lenses and gave a few chirps of approval, following the thoughts behind her intent. "Yes, Zapper needs only sunlight. And you shouldn't worry of his behavior, he is merely curious of the other familiars."

"Very well, Miss Valliére." Said the caretaker. "I shall forward this information to the stable master so everyone knows to not give your familiar any conventional food." With a bow, he dismissed himself and made his way to the stables.

A gentle, if little loud, whine made the three girls and probe to turn to Sylphid. The blue dragon lowered her head to stare at the mechanical being, sniffing it before rearing her head back and giving a grumble of approval. Zapper, for his part, turned from the dragon to its master and beeped rapidly, shuffling closer to the pink haired girl.

"Sylphid wants to play." Said Tabitha. Louise blinked and looked at her frantic familiar before allowing the scaly creature to draw closer to Zapper.

"Alright, just promise me Sylphid will be careful with him." She said. As the galian nodded, the dragon started chasing the probe around the grassy field of the academy's yard. "I hope he's having fun…" She said, forgetting that artificial begins couldn't feel anything like fear or joy.

* * *

[WARNING: Large bio-signature pursuing probe for unknown reason. Second time this event occurs in the last 20 hours.]

[Assessing circumstances:

-Immediate Executor refused call for aid.

-Area of persecution enables evasive maneuvers (Nulled by pursuer's physiology).

-Cognitive motivation of the pursuer: Unknown.

*Scan for possible surface thoughts based on conversations depicting the species of the pursuer's apparent intelligence. Yes/No (Yes).

*Initiating frontal lobe scan.

…

…

…

" _Come here Tickle friend! I just want to play tickles!"_

*Scan results finished.]

[Formulating response to current scenario: Flee and wait for the creature to lose interest.]

[WARNING: Creature has taken hold of the probe.]

[Activating self-defense mechanism]

* * *

"Of course they're having fun, Valliére." Said Kirche, slapping Louise on the back and making her stumble a few steps forward. "Just look at how Sylphid is cuddling your familiar."

To some extent, she was right. The figure of the dragon clutching the probe between her claws and rubbing her head against it was almost as adorable as Zapper tickling the winged lizard with small sparks of lightning at the same time he beeped rapidly.

"Oh, I know!" Kirche snapped her fingers and started walking away. "I'll go and get Flame to join in on the fun."

"Then I guess I'll be on my way to meet Mr. Colbert." Sighed Louise. "See you later Ta- Tabitha?" She turned to her side to find out the other girl had slipped away somehow. Sighing once again, she went inside the building, leaving behind a distressed probe and a joyous dragon.

Break

In one of the empty classrooms, Jean Colbert was attempting for the fifth time to adjust the combustion to motion ratio of the prototype engine to make it not explode the moment he turned it on. Reinforcing the metal casing of the fuel chamber, for the sixth time, and separating and reattaching the components of the contraption to ensure nothing was out of place, he prepared the fuel for his experiment: a shard of fire stone.

Being careful with the volatile component, he slid it in its place within the archaic piece of machinery. Then, as he prepared himself to ignite the fuel for his engine, the door of the classroom creaked open as Louise's head poked in.

"Did you want to see me, Mr. Colbert?" She asked.

"Ah, Miss Valliére. It is good to see you." He greeted, "Please, do come in. There are a few thing I'd like to discuss with you."

The girl approached the bench in which the professor was working on, only sparing a quick glance at the strange mesh of wood and metal sitting on it. "What is that?" She inquired.

"It's a project of my own I'm planning on demonstrating to the class later this week. But this is not the reason why I wanted to talk with you." Colbert said. "The subject I want to talk about right now is the nature of the familiar you summoned."

"If this is about the caretakers not knowing how to take care of Zapper's needs, then there is nothing to worry about. I already talked with them." Louise reassured him.

Colbert nodded and then continued. "That is good to hear, Miss Valliére. However that is not the point I wanted to talk about."

"Huh?"

"Do you recall the reason of having the students of magic summon their familiars at young age?" He asked her like the way he did whenever he imparted his classes.

"It is to teach them how to be responsible of another under their charge as a noble and to reinforce their alignment to their magical element." Louise answered with the same words she read time and time again during her time studying for the summoning. Those days when she hoped to finally achieve recognition from her peers as a mage.

"Indeed, Miss Valliére. But there is another reason." Noting the confusion on the girl, he explained. "Familiars also work as an extension of the mage themselves. Showing to the world their potential and the closest thing their attitudes attune to."

Louise absorbed this knowledge like a sponge. During the last few days, the amount of information she had been given was more than enough to make one's head hurt, but here she was, still willing to learn whatever she could. "Then what does it mean for me, Mr. Colbert?" She asked.

"Before I get to that part, there is another thing I'd like to make known to you, Miss Valliére: The familiar runes. It binds the familiar for life with its master and makes it so the creature gets more developed thought process for the time when their summoner gives them orders and they can follow the instructions without fail, unlike a simple domesticated animal."

"I still don't understand what the problem is, Mr. Colbert."

"Everything in your familiar is the problem, Miss Valliére." Seeing the shock on Louise, he justified his words, "Your familiar is of an unknown species. Your familiar doesn't give away any element attunement. Lastly, and more important of all, your familiar runes are something there's only records from the time of the Founder himself."

She didn't know what to say. She already knew about this from Zeratul, yes, but she kept that information in the back of her mind, not dwelling too much on it. Sure, she was still excited of having a familiar like no other, but the reason behind the existence of a being of such nature was something she didn't want to face right after a childhood of feeling like a stain to her family name and two years of mocking and ridicule. From Zero to the possible next coming of the Founder in less than a few days. She wasn't ready for it and she knew it.

"These divergences in your summoning are quite troubling, Miss Valliére. If there is something you think is of importance to solve this predicament, then I implore you to let me know." Said the professor.

Clearing her dry throat, she said. "I am as lost as you are, professor." It wasn't entirely a lie. "But I'll be sure to tell you anything you should know." Again, she wasn't planning on telling him about an entirely new dimension with space-faring warriors with technology capable of obliterating entire planets, but she wasn't lying when she said she wouldn't say anything he shouldn't know.

Colbert gestured to his prototype, "Very well. Now, let's move onto something to clear the air a little. Do you know what this is?"

"No, what is it?" She asked distractedly.

"This," He began with an air of pride, "is the invention that can possibly change the way we see non-magical artifacts from now on. I was inspired by some of the ancient relics we have found during expeditions near the elven lands." Placing a hand on the device, he announced. "This is the fire stone-powered engine!"

He waited for some kind of gasp of surprise, an exclamation of awe, a slack jaw. Instead, the only sign that Louise was seeing the new revolutionary invention of the century was nothing. Not even a raised eyebrow. Too lost in thought to process what she had in front of her. Of course it had to be it, surely there was nothing else that could render such advancement in the history of Halkeginia useless at the moment, besides magic, that is.

Sighing, the professor apparated a white sheet and veiled the contraption on the desk under it. "I see there are some things bothering you at the moment. If you want to talk about it, I can lend an ear for your troubles, not only about your familiar."

Nodding slowly, the girl said, "Thank you, professor Colbert. I will go to the dining hall to have something before I go to sleep. I need time to think this over." She made her way to the exit of the classroom and just as she was about to cross the door, the professor called out to her.

"Miss Valliére, I would be glad if you kept my little project as a surprise for the class. I believe it should be ready in a few days."

Right after she closed the door, his eyes widened and he threw the sheet aside and fumbled with the apparatus beneath. For he had forgotten to take the fire stone out of the fuel chamber.

* * *

Zeratul arrived to the building where the servant quarters were and wasn't at all surprise at what he saw. He was immediately reminded of the terran barracks, but not as bare, cold or impersonal. It was mostly bare of any unnecessary flair that was boasted in any of the rooms assigned to the students or some of the teachers, but it still had a sense of warmth and comfort that provided a home away from home. The few workers in the place chatted amicably with one another, sharing their day and whatever rumors they had learned through their shift. The female ones being more… enthusiastic with the details than the male ones.

In the middle of a small huddle of maids was the target of his trip to the servant quarters. Siesta was being asked from three other servants at the same time, each one of them wanting details about the reason behind her sudden amity with the Valliére girl. Some even speculating with very far off fantasies of a forbidden romance with some lewd kinks in between, much to a reddening Siesta's mortification.

She jumped to her feet, as she was sitting on her bed, when she felt a small pressure on the back of her head. Catching her interrogators by surprise. "Um… I need to go to the bathroom, I'll be back shortly." She shuffled her way out the room, earning a few shrugs from the others while one slapped another up the back of her head when she made some 'interesting' motions with her fingers, which caused a round of laughter to be heard.

The protoss followed her as she walked out in the direction of the eastern gardens, quickly catching her intention of having some privacy for whatever she had to say to him. Only to stop when she got under the, barely visible at this hour, shade of a tree and sat with her back to the trunk.

"Was there something you wanted to talk about?" She asked.

Making himself visible to her, Zeratul showed her a sheathed sword he carried in his right hand. A sword too small for someone his size. _"I found something of interest. Or rather someone."_

Siesta tilted her head as she stared at the blade before her. "What is so special about it?"

Let it be known that a maid with some bare knowledge of life on different planets and an apparent ethnic background of the same roots was not prepared for what she suspected was a mundane piece of steel did next.

"Yo, the name's Derflinger and the business end is my business!" Rattled the metallic thing.

"Kyaaaa!"

From somewhere in the congregation of the maids waiting for Siesta to return to them, the same one who was slapped earlier said. "See? I told you."

Being grateful for the fact he didn't have any proper ears, Zeratul tapped Derflinger against the ground, earning a pained yelp from him. _"It seems subtlety is not one of your strengths."_ He observed.

"Nah, If I were any blunter, I'd be a mace instead of a sword." Came the quip from the animated object. "So, is this the Valliére kid you mentioned? I thought she would be pinkier than this."

" _No, Derflinger. This one is Siesta, a maid and one of the few persons who know of my presence."_ He clarified, _"She is to accompany us to find Louise and begin our first lesson."_

"Oh, right. She's the other girl you talked about." Said Derflinger. Siesta for her part was trying to take steady breaths as she calmed herself down, coming to grips with the fact that a living, talking sword was having a conversation with an interdimensional alien in front of her.

She made herself part of the conversation by saying, "Are… Are we leaving now? I have to go back with the others and hopefully explain that I'm not part of a forbidden lesbian servant/noble relationship with Miss Valliére." She finished with a grumble.

"Um… kinky, I guess?" Came the oh, so eloquent response from the talking blade.

" _I am beginning to understand why that merchant kept you in the barrel of rusty swords."_ Zeratul mentally sighed. As Siesta stood up and started walking away. Before she could get too far, the protoss remembered something important. _"Do not forget to bring your journal. It might have important information for tonight's lesson."_

Siesta slumped her posture even further.

* * *

The trek to the personal quarters of Louise de la Valliére was short and without anything of interest to mention. Other than the curious glances from some of the servants on Siesta as she made her way to her destination, no one seemed to notice the slight crease of the light that followed her.

After a brief knock on the door with no answer, the maid let herself in only to see Louise laying on her belly on the soft mattress of her bed. Head buried in a pillow and a new nightgown she got earlier today on her person.

"Miss Valliére, are you alright?" To which the girl's head bobbed up and down as she mumbled into her pillow. "Miss Valliére?" She rested a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her.

"Mphaway." She mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Siesta pressed, more worried this time. "Did the trip to the city went badly?"

"Mphno" Came the muffled voice of the girl.

"Then is this about the rumors?"

"Mph?"

Derflinger spoke for the first time, unknowingly uncloaking Zeratul into view. "Oh, the ones about your secret romance?!"

Louise's head shot up so fast she almost hit Siesta in the face, "What?!" Her own face red with embarrassment. "Those scandalmongers with overactive imagination full of smutty novels!" She exclaimed.

Then, she noticed it was a voice she hadn't heard before. "Who said that? Is there someone else in here?"

"Nope. 'Tis I, the mighty Derflinger!" Shouted the sword held in Zeratul's hand. The protoss not bothering with responding to his boisterous attitude.

"Of course… What else could it be? Just what I needed: A talking piece of rust! Because nothing else could be normal for once." She said aloud to no one in particular.

"I'm not that rusty, am I?" Whispered the sword to Zeratul, who once again didn't respond.

"Well, it seems you're talking again. Care to tell me what has been bothering you?" Asked once again a relieved Siesta.

"Siesta, in case you haven't noticed. There is a talking sword in my room. Why is there a talking sword in my room? Why am I the only one freaking out about the talking sword in my room? Am I the only one here who is questioning the existence of a talking sword in my room?" She rambled in hysterics.

Zeratul approached her and placed a hand on her forehead. _"Calm down."_ He commanded. Louise did so.

" _Now… I am going to explain the events leading to getting hold of Derflinger, but I wish for you to listen intently. I do not appreciate repeating myself."_ Said calmly the Templar.

As he explained his part on how he met the sentient sword, Louise fidgeted in place as she wanted to ask something but didn't as she waited for him to finish. During his explanation, the pesky blade butted in to add some of the worst weaponry-related puns she had ever heard in her life. Siesta listened with a bit more of attention as she was the only one who stayed in the academy during the day.

When he finally finished, Zeratul said. _"Is there something you would like to say before we start our lesson?"_

"A few things, yes." Answered Louise, "I am curious as to why nobody had ever mentioned something about a magical sword made by the Founder. If I were a historian that would be a topic of discussion that had to be known for millennia."

"Aww… You're making me blush." Said Derflinger.

"Right, I was wondering about that too." Agreed Siesta.

" _The reason behind it evades me, but I find it something of interest too. Further investigation on the lack of mentions of a forgotten instrument as ancient as it proclaims to be is a course of action I should look into later."_ Zeratul proposed.

"Well," Said Derflinger, "I think there must be a reason. I mean, nobody forgets someone as awesome as me just that easy."

"Yes… I wonder why." Mumbled Louise. "But there is something else I'd like to tell you. I think professor Colbert suspects something's up with the whole familiar summoning business."

"Really?" Wondered Siesta, "What did he tell you?" And then, the Valliére started telling them about how Colbert wanted to talk with her. In retrospective, she could have said her issues with other students bullying her was the sole reason for her recent attitude. Probably her silence towards her teacher could lead to wrong conclusions.

"And he offered me to see this invention of his. I think you would like to see it, Zeratul."

" _It sounds like a good time to determine what the current limit for the scientific development of this world is. I'll be sure to presence his reveal."_ While he was sure whatever the humans in this world was leagues behind protoss' technologic standards, it was always interesting to see how well sentient creatures expanded their horizons and broadened their fields of understanding.

"I believe it sounds wonderful to see what he made." Mentioned the maid, pulling the old journal from a pocket in her uniform. "If this book is to be believed, it could be like seeing the baby steps of humanity's scientific method of learning."

"Siesta, where do you keep learning those words?" Wondered Louise, earning a pout from the maid. "I don't mean it like that! It's good to learn new terms, after all. But that vocabulary seems out of place coming from a commoner, even less so from a maid."

"I don't know. The words just… come to me? I guess I've always talked like this since I was little." She continued, "My siblings tell me I talk too much like a noble whenever I used some overcomplicated terms."

" _Intriguing."_ Said Zeratul, _"I say it as a speculation, but it seems as if you psionics were working in a subtler way than I imagined."_

"How so?" Asked Louise.

" _Psionic-sensitive individuals are known to have an increased learning capabilities and adaptive thinking processes than non-psionic ones."_ Seeing the confused expressions on the humans, he simplified. _"Those who have psionic potential can learn faster and solve problems faster than those who do not."_

Once the doubt was cleared, the protoss then asked. _"Now that we have that subject out of the way, Siesta, may I see the journal?"_

"Yes, yes. Of course." She gave him the old, leather-bound book. "I skimmed a few pages earlier today. Now that I have some frame of reference, there are a few things that make more sense." She scratched the back of her head.

The young noble was, like in the last meetings, the one with the slowest uptake when it came down to this things. Being the newest to exposure to the strange facts of the Koprulu Sector. This time, however, she wasn't the only one as Derflinger was the one utterly lost in tonight.

And so, the lesson began: A refresher of the story from yesterday. With the intent of helping reinforce his words, he opened the journal to show the girls some of the images he found in the first chapters, skimming the text around them. However, as soon as he read one of the dates of the earliest entries he noticed something that chilled him to the core.

" _It's not possible."_

"What? What happened?" Asked Louise, Siesta nodding at her side with Derflinger on her lap.

" _I started reading the entries in the middle of the journal, before it starts mentioning his life in Halkeginia. It seems the author was from the year 2510, Terran modern era."_

"Wow… What does it mean?" Said the talking sword.

" _I left the Koprulu Sector four years before that. It says the war was over two years after it."_

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? If my grandfather wrote that, then it means your people probably succeeded." Wondered Siesta.

" _I should be the case… Where it not mention protoss of the Daelaam, the unified tribes, my allies and friends, disappeared months before those entries."_

* * *

 **OMAKE (I guess)**

The stables were a place where fantastic creatures could interact with each other without any fear from their owners for their well-being. Kept fed and rested by the caretakers under the watchful eye of the stable master, one would expect the magical and non-magical creatures would be content with their existence. A higher level of understanding granted by their familiar runes helping them socialize with one another as they put instinctual behavior aside.

At least, that's how it should work in theory where it not a troublesome mechanical being harassing other familiars with a beam of blue and pink light right on their faces. All the while beeping and chirping in that strange way it communicates.

It could have been fine if this thing weren't doing it in the middle of feeding time, or leisure time, or sleep time. Anytime, really.

At this point Mark, one of the caretakers, was about to start ripping the hair off his scalp with the behavior of this Zapper that was summoned by no other than Louise De la Valliére. A troublesome familiar for a troublesome student.

Currently, Zapper was harassing Guiche's familiar, Verdandi. A giant star-nosed mole that enjoyed jewels and attention, but even it was already fed up with the colored spotlight which had been following it for the last two hours. Thankfully, it was time for the students to have breakfast and soon enough they would be left with their familiars to get to know them.

A soft whine brought his attention back to the blue dragon he was feeding, the only dragon that was summoned this year by a wind mage from Gallia. It was surprisingly docile for its species, maybe because it was a younger dragon, judging it by its size, or the runes on it were powerful enough to keep it tame with strangers.

The dragon, Syplhid, kept its eyes trained on the golden globe that was Louise's familiar as it lost interest in the mole it was bathing light on. He didn't know how it began, or why it happened, but in one moment the scaly beast was beside him and in the next it was charging at the ball of gold like a cat did with a ball of yarn.

A long series of high pitched, biphonic chirps signaled the beginning of what he could say was the strangest chase he had ever seen, rapidly concluding with Zapper trying to pry itself free from Sylphid's claws. Apparently the golden familiar could bother the others with ease but it didn't like being the one being picked on.

Luckily for Zapper, and unfortunately for Mark, the owner of the dragon had to take it to a trip to the capital. Leaving the strange familiar with free reign to do as it pleased, which turned out to be hover from one place to another under the sun, not stopping for a second to rest under the shade of any of the trees nearby as did the other familiars. It was completely unbothered by the heat, despite not having had anything to eat or drink since Mark started to look after it.

It kept that strange behavior for some more hours. Of course, the caretaker didn't stand there and stared its mad pacing during that time, as he handled the needs of the other familiars he was assigned to. This strange thing was starting to worry him, if the Valliére kid got here to find her familiar unfed and tired he would be in trouble, if her quick to anger tendencies were to be believed. Just in what was thinking that creature, he would never know.

[Current orders: Blend in, act naturally.]

[Unknown animal behavior- Analysis of local creatures completed: Results inconclusive.]

[Current course of action: Move on patrol mode in an equidistant perimeter.]

[Status: Non-aggressive response from 'caretakers'- Resuming patrol as to maintain the 'Blend in'.]

The world would never know…


	11. Chapter 10 A Call of Distress

**Author Notes: Finally. You don't know how hard it was to finally get this chapter going. In a nutshell: The town where I live in doesn't have a protected enough pwer grid and there's been storming every night (My only free time, outside from sundays) for the last week, and I've been losing the chapter a few times already.**

 **On the other hand, we've been preparing for an audit in the office I'm volunteering as an assistant. But in the end it went without a hitch and Thank Goodness it's over! *Ahem.**

 **On the other other hand, (the 'fun things that maybe I shouldn't be doing if I want to consistenly have time to write a story' hand.) I've started playing yugioh after... 14 years, maybe? I don't exactly remember. But yeah, that's a thing.**

 **Oh, and before I forget: Have any of you, from those who don't know Satrcraft, seen Carbot's videos? Ever since I started this story, I've imagined the probe as a Carbot one just because it looks funny.**

 **Now, to the reviews:**

 **halo is bad ass, Ghost iv: If everything goes to plan, maybe. But you know what happens with plans and first contact.**

 **buterflypuss: I agree.**

 **Truemmerphantom: Wait, really? It's like inventing the toaster before knowing how to make bread. But still, character interacting with characters from other universes is always fun.**

 **doom2099: I've watched time and time again. I can't get tired of it. After all, it's the same franchise that popularized FPS to the point where it's one of the most commonly genres related to videogames today.**

 **SSJ-Jolt: I will think of that.**

* * *

Chapter 10. A Call of Distress

Two days have passed since Zeratul learned the fate of his people. He left a few seconds later and disappeared with the journal in hand, leaving behind a couple of worried girls and a very confused sword. Thankfully, this couple of days were relatively quiet compared with last week, at least without the rest of the student body openly mocking Louise with her lack of magical capabilities.

By now, she didn't know if she'd rather have them jeering at her or whispering behind her and Siesta's back. Honestly, the maids of the academy should really stop reading those unrealistically smutty novels and mind their own business.

Today, like Siesta and Louise had agreed to, they had breakfast together and away from the rest of the people in the school. Unlike the rumors running around said, they had been talking about the possible whereabouts of the invisible protoss whenever they were alone as to not be overheard by someone with loose lips. All in all, it was a quiet and short affair and they didn't get to think of anything Zeratul could've been doing lately.

They finished breakfast and the two of them, despite Siesta's insistence, stored the dishes, silverware and other things from their pseudo-picnic back in a basket and went back to the interior of the academy. Once they reached the kitchens, they separated. Louise heading to class and Siesta staying to clean whatever dishes were left for her, as the others were busy attending the students or having breakfast themselves.

Both girls began their day enjoying the peace that wasn't bound to last in the educational environment of Tristain's Academy of Magic.

As Louise arrived at her first class, Colbert's class, she noticed the blanketed desk in the classroom. Something was on the table and covered by the sheet. The seats for the students were slowly getting occupied by the young mages chatting amongst themselves, mostly complaining of having this class first as the professor Colbert was mostly known for diving into topics either too complicated or too boring for most of the class.

As soon as she sat in her seat, said professor entered the classroom and cleared his throat to make the students turn their attention to him. "Good morning, students." He greeted, receiving a chorus of 'good mornings, Professor Colbert' from the teenagers in the room.

"Let us begin today's lesson with a simple question: What differentiates a noble from a commoner?" He asked to the class, not actually expecting an answer, "As we all know, the ability to wield magic is the first thing that comes to mind. Followed shortly by the ownership of extended areas of land and the political power that follows it. But these latter characteristics are often, if not always, granted by this main and unique difference."

He paced from one end of the room to the other, sparing a glance to the young nobles. Louise blinked as she noticed the teacher's eyes stop on her before he asked. "But why is it that commoners are tasked with manual labor related activities such as farming, construction, forging, tailoring among others? When it is clear that magic is a more efficient tool than human hands. Miss Valliére, may you please give us your personal input?"

Suddenly placed under the spotlight, the pink haired girl shrunk in her place as her classmates leaned to hear whatever she had to say. "Um… it may be because the nobles are better to deal with the organizational duties of Halkeginia." She said the first thing that came to her head.

"It was not the answer I was looking for, but it is still a valid reasoning." He nodded. "How about you, Miss Von Zerbst?" He addressed the germanian who was raising her hand eagerly.

Without missing a beat, the tanned woman said. "The reason behind this social structure is because there aren't many mages compared with the commoner population. However, it is worth mentioning that nobles are often employed to strengthen the armies because of the support they provide on the field against other mages and armies without magic, and they are employed as the leaders in their ranks for that reason."

"That is correct, Miss Von Zerbst." Congratulated Colbert. "Mages are not used for tasks that demand copious amounts of production and time because magic in itself is relatively rare when one takes into account the population of a country and the need for resources it represents. In the end, we mustn't forget that mages also need willpower to power their spells and exhausting one's reserves of it can lead to serious medical problems down the road."

Kirche beamed at having the right answer, not completely ignoring the hushed and excited murmurs of the lovesick boys praising her intelligence and her other qualities. Colbert continued, "Instead, we rely on the combined workforce provided by the majority of the commoners who do whatever they can to ensure we live as comfortable as we do."

"Mr. Colbert," A boy from the back of the class called, "Why are we talking about this? I thought we went over the role of commoners at the beginning of the year." Others mumbled in agreement, Louise raised an eyebrow. Sure, they had gone over this lesson various times before in different ways and countless varied explanations about the same reasons of why Halkeginia worked as it did. She half-thought it right to question the intention of Professor Colbert to go back to a theme so worn and over-explained at this point of the school year.

"Ah, I see why you are confused." Conceded the professor. "I am asking these questions because there is something I want to show you today." He walked over to the blanket-covered desk in the front of the classroom. "As you know, commoners are tasked with what they do because they are able to keep up with the amount of supply demanded by the kingdoms through quantity of able hands. On the other side, armies are benefitted by both magical and not magical oriented soldiers and as so, both of them help in dire times of conflict." He fell silent for a moment. "But we won't dwell on that aspect for now."

He patted the object hidden beneath the white sheet on the desk and he kept talking. "What would you think if I told you there could be a way for the normal commoner to perform their work on equal grounds as mages?" He unveiled the strange contraption from under the blanket with a flourish, an awkward one if Louise had to judge it, and waited for his students to ask a question he was all too eager to respond.

"What is that, Professor?" Asked another boy, Malorne, scratching the side of his head.

Beaming with pride at his invention, Colbert said. "This, students, is something I like to call 'The Engine!'" He reached into one of his pockets and grabbed a small leather pouch, not bigger than an écu, filled with finely ground fire stone. Then he poured its contents in a small compartment to the side of the little machine and with a small tap of his wand, he ignited the combustible component within the small contraption. Almost instantly, it started to emit a steady trail of steam from an exhaust tube on the top of it as it rattled and started moving a small wheel attached to the side opposite of the fuel compartment.

Having made multiple attempts and near catastrophic mistakes, he finally found the right measurements for the mobile parts and the right strengthening spells to the affixed pieces. The calculations were another thing he was slowly getting better at. After all, as a pioneer of a new area of study and the only source of inspirations resulted from the relics from the Vault. Making the right configuration for the fire stone was just a matter of trial and error, but in the end, seeing his little project working like he dreamed of was a sense of pride and accomplishment that nothing or no one could take away from him.

"That's dumb." Whispered a student to another. The current silence of the classroom making it easy to hear for everyone but not enough to identify whomever said that.

Colbert slumped his shoulders as no one among his students was in the slightest interested on the groundbreaking feat he was showing them. A hopeful look at the only one in the room who had seen the chugging apparatus once before was sent and the Valliére girl was moved to say something.

"Mr. Colbert, how is this engine going to help the commoners?" A simple question that was easy to answer with a general idea that could open up a greater interest on the impressionable minds of the younger nobility.

"The engine as it is right now is not able to help them, if I am honest with all of you." He admitted. "But it's the principle of the matter the simple act of autonomous motion that can generate different ways of use and purpose."

"So is it useless for now?" Asked Kirche rather callously.

"I wouldn't call it useless, per se. Think of it as a work in progress." He gestured to the moving wheel of the engine. "See here, class. This part can be attached to a rope to pull something without the need of someone pulling from it, or be coupled with a shaft to pump water out of a well. This could start a revolutionary set of methods and techniques to work better without relying on too many people, allowing a better production to supply the population of cities like Tristain with half as many workers." He went on.

As the professor kept explaining and projecting himself in his mental picture of an automatized Tristania, Louise was beginning to wonder if she did the right thing as half her classmates glared at her now that the most excitable professor in the academy talked nonstop for the next two hours.

It took a friendly reminder from the headmaster's secretary, Miss Longueville, to snap Colbert from his overcomplicated speech about fantastical metal behemoths of metal and steam trudging through the most inhospitable corners of the world once humanity disappeared from the face of the planet. Colbert turned to see his near comatose students slumped in their seats, some blank faced, others fast asleep. Only one was awoke but apparently hadn't been paying attention on his class, opting to read from one of her books she always kept at hand.

He really should have stopped when the engine stopped working an hour ago.

The relief was instantaneous when the professor announced a break for the rest of the day, Louise felt like her brain was going to fall off at a moment's notice. And she wasn't the only one from the looks of it, as Kirche, calm and collected Kirche, leaned on both her and Tabitha to stop herself from lurching forward in a data overload-induced daze. At least everyone else was too busy trying to forget the two hour worth of ramblings and outlandish, near blasphemous, ideas from the enthusiastic professor.

Of course, it wasn't like she didn't know even more advanced civilizations. Nope, not one in particular.

"Louise." Said Tabitha, "Come." The two of them helped the redhead walk back into her room. It didn't take too long to get there and letting the tall germanian rest in the luxurious bed. She immediately fell asleep and the other two girls decided to get out of her chambers.

Tabitha tapped Louise on the shoulder with her gnarled staff as the pinkette was about to go to her own bedroom. She stopped and turned to the galian, asking "Yes, Tabitha? Do you need anything?"

"Follow me." She told her, walking away without waiting for a response. The Valliére did end up following her to the upper floor where the quiet girl resided. Once in the interior, she noticed the bookshelves on the walls completely full, more books were stacked on a desk, the floor and even the bed. Almost like a small fortress of knowledge.

"You should really get some maid to get your room cleaned." Commented Louise. Looking around the sea of leather and paper. One of them caught her eye. "Hey, is this the 'Techniques of the Heavy Wind'? It's rare to find anyone who owns a copy of it." _'Except my mother. She swore vengeance on whomever read her diary and decided to make a profit out of it.'_ She mentally finished.

Her host didn't seem to hear her musings as she closed the door with a soft breeze. "Did someone follow us?" She asked.

"I guess not. Why?" Louise answered, confused with the sudden question. "Is something wrong?"

Tabitha narrowed her bespectacled eyes and raised a thin cloud of dust that was resting on the haphazardly placed books in her chambers. Louise sneezed as some of it got in her nose. "There, clean."

"I wasn't talking about the dust, Tabitha." She deadpanned. "But you still haven't told me why you wanted me to follow you here."

"Didn't react to Colbert's invention." She simply said, leaving the meaning open to interpretation as she looked over her collection of books.

"Oh, that." Blinked Louise. "He already showed it to me a few days ago. In fact, he wanted to talk to me on the last day of Void. After all, I wasn't the only one who didn't react at all."

"Not interested on it." Tabitha shrugged. "I enjoyed the lack of explosions." She finished with a straight face. Inwardly smirking at the unamused expression on her classmate.

"How funny. I didn't peg you for the joking type." She shot back. "I still find it a bit excessive to drag me all the way here to just ask me something that could be answered in the hallways."

"Your familiar. Sylphid likes it. I don't know what it does or what it is." She summarized.

"Ah, so you're worried about my familiar hurting yours?" Louise sighed. "I don't know why everyone keeps asking about Zapper so much. I can't really take a break even when I do something right sometimes."

At Tabitha's nod, Louise continued. "I can safely say that Zapper won't harm your familiar, Tabitha. I ensure you he's a very well behaved pro-er… thing." She caught herself, not exactly thinking of a right name for a made up species of metallic, floating eyeball-fish things on Halkeginia.

"Alright," The blue haired girl walked past Louise and opened the door for her. "You may go."

"Um… Ok?" The Valliére got out of Tabitha's room and just as she was about to leave, she poked her head back in. "I guess I'll see you around then. Have a good day, Tabitha."

As the pink haired girl left, the galian kept her eyes on the swirling dust, still floating in the air, moving after a draft of air. She had her windows closed the whole time.

With her impromptu, and involuntary, visit to her classmate's room. Louise went to her own, where she found Zapper bathing Derflinger in the same strange pinkish-blue light he shone on whatever caught his interest.

"Hey, hey, cut it out!" Yelled the sword. "Stop it, it's making me uncomfortable. Is this how you treat your elders?!"

For the last couple of days, she had been witness to the same spectacle day in and day out. She had already come to terms that her life couldn't be normal by any stretch of the imagination. As so, her shoulders slumped and grabbed Derflinger and tossed him on her bed, away from Zapper's reach.

"Thanks, Pinky!" He exclaimed. "That thing's been watching very, very, VERY, closely." Derflinger rattled, as if trembling. "I feel so dirty right now."

Louise rolled her eyes at his antics. "He's just curious. It can't be that bad." She told the sword. "Isn't that right, Zapper?" A few beeps were the response from her familiar.

"So, how's it going?" Asked Derflinger.

"I don't know." She began. "I guess everything is doing well. But I can't help but think what is going on with Zeratul. He left so suddenly and Siesta and I don't have a clue as to what is going on."

"Yeah, that's rough." He commented. "I know how hard it is to lose someone, I've had many users in the past. Some of them bad, some of them half-way decent." He reminisced. "Ah… to be young and shiny again."

Zapper, using the distracted state of the talking sword, stalked to the side of the bed opposite to Louise. Then it hovered over to Derflinger and snatched him in a power field, earning a startled yelp from him and Louise.

"Zapper, what are you doing!" She yelled. The probe didn't seem to hear her as it carried an alarmed Derflinger to a corner of the room. "Put him down right now!" She ordered.

The probe froze at the moment she gave her command. Slowly, it lowered the talking sword on the floor and went over to its master. An inquiring beep and a flash of the rune engraved on it showed it was ready for new instructions.

The young girl sighed and put a hand on her forehead, "What am I going to do with you?" She asked to herself.

* * *

In somewhere else, just at the beginning of the evening, Siesta was carrying a couple of teacups and a pitcher of hot cinnamon tea to the Headmaster's office. She had received instructions earlier to send these things there because someone important was going to visit Osmond today. A messenger from the Palace, they said, but they didn't say exactly who.

She was entirely confused when she offered to be the one to serve them when no one in the kitchens wanted to do it, especially after Marteau insisted to the girls to let one of the men working there to do it instead. After all, what could be so bad from someone who came from the Palace? Maybe there were some urgent bad news that required for the headmaster to be aware of, and nobody wanted to stand there and overhear sensitive information. For her, they were just acting silly.

As she made her way to the office, she couldn't help but listen to some of the maids watching her walk by starting to mutter small prayers, like she wasn't going to ever come back. The things they were saying struck her as odd at first, but she quickly dismissed it. She had a job to do and whatever extra money she could make out of it was money well worth it.

When she reached the door to the Headmaster's office, she held her platter on one hand and with the other she knocked on the door. A muffled "Come in" was her sign to let herself in.

"Headmaster Osmond, I have brought you some cinnamon tea for you and your guest." She announced as she walked in. Not recognizing the man sitting in front of the old man.

Speaking of the grey headed mage, for a second he seemed to blanch when he noticed who was serving them their tea. With a fake cough, the old man forced himself to give a pleasant smile and say, "Ah, yes. My tea. Thank you, young miss." He gestured to the man in front of him and continued, "You may leave, miss. Count Mott and I have many things to discuss right now and it should be best to be left well alone." As he said that, he gave emphasis to the name of his guest, hoping for the maid to get a hint.

"Very well, Headmaster Osmond." She said hurriedly, now knowing why everyone back outside the office was so nervous. Count Mott had a reputation of taking young maids to his manor and then having them disappear a few weeks after, never to be seen or heard from again. Right now, all she had to do was to leave through the door and hopefully nothing would come of this.

"What a pretty young lady you have here, Osmond." Said the Count, turning his head to see at Siesta's backside, much to her disgust. "I didn't know you were hiding such beauties in this academy of yours."

"Don't even think about it, Count Mott." Warned the elderly mage. "This demeanor of yours is unbecoming for someone of your station."

"I don't know what are you talking about, Osmond." Replied Mott, not taking his eyes away from the petrified Siesta. "After all, it would be disastrous if someone were to leak classified information such as the recent rise in activity from the thief Fouquet, the Crumbling Dirt. Who, I might add, has placed his sights on this very school. Such a shame if someone were to eavesdrop on this meeting. Am I right, young lady?"

"I… I didn't hear anything, Count Mott." She quietly said. Not meeting his eyes.

"Mott, I'm warning you. If you continue with your deplorable behavior, I shall see you reported to Her Majesty personally." Threatened the headmaster.

"Mhm? I believe I am doing my job by stopping onlookers from knowing this sensitive information I am only allowed to let you, and you alone, know." Mott easily replied. He knew that the headmaster couldn't let word of this meeting to come to light, as it would make the upcoming festival to showcase the newly acquired familiars harder with every student fearing for the safekeeping of the Vault and their own belongings, not to mention familiars. And things would not get easier with the commoner staff being afraid of Fouquet attacking the academy with those golems of his.

"Say, young lady. What is your name?" Asked Mott, browsing over her figure.

"My… My name is… My name is Siesta." She stammered, not wanting to give him her name.

"Siesta…" The Count rolled her name in his mouth, enjoying the sound. To the maid, it didn't help her distraught state the way he savored her name, like playing with a new toy. "I was wondering if you'd like to work for me, as I am running out of hands to run my manor and need someone to keep my things nice and tidy."

Siesta wanted to say no, of course. But one didn't simply say no to a noble, not without wanting to be treated as a heretic by the teachings of the Church of Brimir. No commoner was allowed to deny a direct request of a mage, not from someone who worked for the crown so closely.

"Count Mott, enough is enough!" Exclaimed the old man watching the utter lack of respect from the Count. "I am sure you have already said your piece. I would appreciate it if you were so kind to leave my office in this instant."

The other man simply shrugged. "Very well, Headmaster Osmond. But know this: I will tell Her Majesty of the disregard of your employees to barge in and spy on private meetings as important as this one and give word of it to every simple person who they come across. It would very well mean your demotion as the leader of this academy, since not even your words carry the same weight as a Palace messenger." He challenged, knowing the old man could do nothing from his end. At least not without raising unwanted attention.

At least, that was what it seemed for Siesta, who was quiet during the exchange. She took a step forward and after taking a deep breath, she asked. "Is this true, Headmaster?"

The silence Osmond kept as his face frowned, forming wrinkles over wrinkles as he did so, was the only answer he could provide. "I wish I could help you, Miss Siesta. I really do. But this is a matter I don't want anyone to be aware of."

"I understand, Headmaster." Replied the maid in a whisper. "If I may have one request, Count Mott, Headmaster. May I inform Miss Valliére of my leave?"

"I'm afraid not, Siesta." Answered Mott quickly, as to avoid Osmond from answering instead. "I won't take any chances of letting anyone know of this." He turned to the headmaster, "How long has she been working here?"

"Six months." Replied curtly the grey headed man, already knowing what would become of her. "I only wish she could have stayed here for longer."

"Then I guess she won't have that many belongings in here." Concluded the mustachioed man, "We are leaving right now." He announced, shock etching on both Siesta and Osmond.

"B…Bu…" Siesta sighed, "Yes, Count Mott." She said with a bow and closed eyes. The headmaster could only shake his head as the two other people left his office.

He reached for a piece of walnut and gave it to a little mouse hiding from under his desk. As the rodent munched away at the treat, "I am not a man who believes in miracles, Motsognir. But I dread to imagine the fate that will befall her if no one does anything."

The little rodent didn't pay too much attention as it was content with having something to eat at the moment. But, for a second, it froze as it stared at a window overlooking the entrance to the academy, imagining a brief flash of green and a puff of smoke.

Motsognir squeaked and called for Osmond's attention with some success, only managing to get him to look at a fluttering worn page falling to his feet. The old man blinked and reached to grab it, groaning as his back ached at the motion.

"What is this?" He asked mostly to himself, not forgetting the sentience of his familiar. "This drawing is so… strange. I think Jean will have a field day when I show him this. However, I think it should be best to let Miss Valliére know the news." Osmond left the paper on his desk, readying himself to deal with one of his most volatile students.

Within the page, the word 'Hellion' and an intricate sketch of a strange carriage raised even more questions.

* * *

"Huh, how strange." Said Derflinger, catching the attention of the pink haired girl when she was reading from a book she got from the library just yesterday.

"What is it?" She asked, returning her eyes to the wall of text and figuring out where she was reading previously.

"Nothing much. It just strikes me as strange how your familiar keeps looking at me like I'm going to run away or something." He commented.

"You're being paranoid." She turned a page. The probe hadn't tried to get a hold of the magical item ever since she forbid it earlier. Now it hovered in a corner of her room as a 'punishment' for its bad behavior, not actually giving any indication of being displeased with her treatment.

"Can you blame me? Your tin can was ready to take me who knows where if you hadn't intervened in time." Derflinger paused for a few seconds. "I can't shake off the feeling there is something off about your familiar, Pinky."

"How so?"

"Well, for starters. His familiar runes don't make any sense." Louise's eyes widened as she heard that, but the sword didn't let her make any comment of it. "Now, I'm not saying you're not a Void mage, far from it. What I'm saying is that I've seen runes like that once before."

"And where was it?" Asked Louise.

"It was… Hmm…" He tried to remember. Names were easy to forget when one lived as long as he had. But some details stayed with him, as muddy as they were. "Ah, right! My first wielder was the most beloved of Brimir's familiars." He paused, "I guess."

"Who was it, a brave knight? A personal guard?" She tried to guess. "Come on, tell me. If you still remember it, then it must be very important."

"Well, it was kinda like his bodyguard but not exactly. I can't really remember all of it right now. But there's something I can't forget about her, him, I guess it was… yes! Yes! It was a she… I think." He rambled.

"Stop mumbling or I'm going to sic Zapper on you." Declared the girl.

"Okay, okay, jeez. No respect for the elderly here." He murmured before he saw Louise's deadpanning face. "The role of that familiar was the Left Hand of God. More commonly known as the Gándarlf. The one with the runes was tasked to protect their master while they prepared their spells, those took a long time to cast so they needed to be kept safe if they had to use magic in a tight situation."

"Alright, I can see why it must be confusing. Now that I think about it, Zapper doesn't seem capable of fighting." She observed.

"Yeah. Weird, isn't it?"

Before Louise and Derflinger could keep talking, a knock on the door announced the presence of a visitor. "May I come in, Miss Valliére?" Came the voice of none other than the Headmaster Osmond.

"Yes, please do come in." The door opened to let the old man enter with an unreadable expression on his bearded face. "Am I in trouble, Headmaster?" Derflinger decided to stay quiet for the duration of the visit. As boisterous as he was, he knew better than to let himself be taken away by an elderly mage who was the owner of an academy. He might end up like a study specimen, he internally shuddered at the thought.

"No, Miss Valliére." Responded the headmaster. "However, given the current circumstances regarding your, ah… pariah status." He suppressed a wince when the young girl flinched at that. "I find it prudent to inform you your friend, Siesta, was taken by the Count Mott."

Louise felt a cold shiver down her spine at the mention of that sleazeball in a seat of power and the stories rumored about him. Then the repulsion gave way to fear, fear for the safety of her friend. Commoner or not, she had treated her better than any of the snobby students ever had when she had demonstrated her lack of 'proper' magic.

She ignored the next apologetic words of the headmaster. She knew Osmond was trying his best to lay down the news as gently as possible, but when it came to leaving a helpless girl she knew in the clutches of the dreaded Count, she couldn't help but turn that fear and repulsion into anger.

"Headmaster, have they already left?" She asked through gritted teeth, showing restraint. As much restraint required to not blow up half the tower she was in.

"Young Valliére, I know how you feel. But please, reconsider this course of action." He tried to dissuade her.

"I will ask one more time, Headmaster. Have they already left?"

Sighing, Osmond nodded and said, "Please remember, I do care for my students and my workers, Miss Valliére. But there are times where I can't do anything to help them. Please don't do anything too brash."

With nothing else to say, he left the girl alone in her room. Only guessing what could come next.

Once the door closed, Derflinger could only say one thing.

"That's rough, girl."

But she didn't hear him. "I'm going to get her back." She decided, going for her wand resting on her desk and getting a cloak to ward herself from the chilly air of the spring night. "And you will help me."

"What? Are you crazy?!" Exclaimed the sword. "In case you've forgotten, you don't know how to use a sword."

"I wasn't talking to you, you piece of rust." She snapped. She pointed at the window, "I'm talking about him."

" _While my loss is still fresh in my mind. I know my brethren would be ashamed if I ignored a call for help, Young Louise."_


	12. Chapter 11 Riding to the Rescue

**Author Notes: It's been more than a month and I'm finally updating this story again. I was... indisposed for a time and my phone was... unavaliable... Yeah, it sucked for a time. I'm never getting in a bus that screeches to a halt on every stop, unless it's strictly necessary (too bad they are most of them in my city, le sigh).**

 **Worse of all, after that time I lost what I was going to do with the current chapter. Not the chapter itself (which I ended up discarding), but as the intention. I want to make something enticing for you to read, after all. Escapism and all that good stuff that makes this site great.**

 **But still, there is some good after all this: I have a few chapters to read and catch up on and my family has a new cat, his name's Stripes.**

 **Have I mentioned that I've recently read the Goblin Slayer manga? I've only gotten wind of it because of the whole 'I've been traumatised, REEEEEE' shenanigans a few weeks ago with the anime. Honestly, I swear there were worse things when I was a kid than this and nobody cared. (It won't influence this story given the current chapter, don't worry).**

 **And the new XCOM 2 dlc is out... Man, has it ever happened to you that the only day of class that you miss is the one when it apparently was the "Everyone who attended exempts the next exam of their choice" day? It feels that way for me.**

 **So yeah... Those were things that happened. While I was gone...**

 **Sorry.**

 **Ahem... Let's see the reviews, shall we?**

 **Artyom Dreizehn: Nah, don't worry about the info dump. I welcome it, in fact. But I can't say for sure if I want to have terrans in Halkeginia, i'm not sure how to introduce them here.**

 **Buterflypuss, guest (1): Thanks.**

 **halo is bad ass: Yeah. Well, he's going to be a bit more of a sage/mentor/detective/infiltrator than a fighter but still, he's going to be great.**

 **doom2099: Yeah, the trailer was awesome. This chapter will explain some things.**

 **Fimbu1vetr: It's corrected, thanks.**

 **illerayn: Woooo! Now let's wait for the next season.**

 **Arashi Tenebris: Yeah, mom. I've learned my lesson.**

 **Guest (2): I am deeply sorry it took so long. I'll be sure to make it up by updating the next chapter next week (I hope).**

* * *

Chapter 11. Riding to the Rescue.

"Hey, Pinky, don't you think this rescue mission is a bit too sudden?" Asked Derflinger from his spot on the bed. Thankfully away from the probe who was pacing back and forth in front of the door.

"Yes and I don't care" She said before turning to the old protoss before her. "And you! Where were you? Siesta and I were worried you ran off on us."

If Zeratul was ashamed of it, he didn't show it. _"I apologize for my hurried leave, young Louise, but the explanation for my whereabouts is a long one to tell. If you want to hurry, then I must tell it to you on the way to the Count's manor."_

"You better have a good explanation or I swear on the Founder's beard I'll whip a valid excuse out of you once this is over." Threatened the mage, not really giving any fear to a warrior who had fought through zerg-infested worlds.

The sword decided to chime in, just as the Zeratul became invisible once again and Louise went to the door past her familiar. "Guys, do any of you know where this Mott guy lives in? I mean, if you're so determined to go there and do whatever you have planned then you surely know that, right?"

The Valliére stopped for a second and then said, without turning. "I don't know. To be honest, I don't even have a plan. But I'm thinking of someone who might know where that deplorable Count lives."

She exited the room with Zeratul following closely and then opened up her door again. "Zapper, I want you to keep an eye on Derflinger. Derflinger, if someone enters my room, keep quiet and be as inconspicuous as possible." She closed the door again.

The Dark Templar followed her as she made her way to the lower floors. If she knew Guiche right, she would know where he was right now. Surely enough, she found him sitting by the fountain in the entrance hall to the tower, next to him was Montmorency looking miffed at the constant pleas for forgiveness the boy was asking.

"…Was going to happen and I apologize for everything I did. Please, my beauty, speak to me once more!" He finished another apology with desperate fervor. Sadness welling from his heart as Montmorency huffed and kept looking away from him. Until right now, he hadn't known why she accepted to come here if she wasn't going to hear any of his words.

"Excuse me!" Louise made herself known, interrupting the lovers' spat for a moment. "I need to talk with you, Guiche. It's urgent."

"What is it, Ze-er… Valliére?" He caught himself. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to fix this mess I find myself in."

"Oh my, I wonder who might be responsible for that." Quipped sarcastically the crossed teenager without pausing to look at the slumped figure of her fiancée. "I hope this business of yours doesn't involve going out with three other girls right after you got yourself in trouble with your incessant flirting!" She raised her voice as she finished.

"B-but, my love! I was trying to apologize, and I brought you some gifts they suggested me to get." Montmorency huffed and turned her face upwards.

"Guiche," Reminded Louise of her presence, "I came here just to ask you one thing and then I'll leave you to fix your relationship with your girlfriend: Where is Count Mott?"

"Why are you asking that, Valliére? That man is more trouble than what you think."

"I'm aware of his reputation, which is why I want to talk to him. He has Siesta, she has my friend. So please, tell me where I can find him." She explained.

Both Guiche and Montmorency were surprised at the girl's motivation. Count Mott was known to be a despicable man with less than stellar rumors floating about him. To know that he had snatched another girl away to his manor was bad enough already, that said girl was a friend of a person they knew, whether they liked her or not, gave them a sense of sympathy for the pink haired student.

"Alright, I'll tell you. My father made me accompany him to visit the Count one time. If you turn to the right on the bifurcation in the path to the capital, his manor should be at the end of the road." Answered the boy with more curiosity than hesitation in his voice. "But I do have to ask, what are you going to do once you're there? You are not going to demand him to give your little maid back just like that. Are you?"

"Do not worry about it, Gramont." Said Louise as she walked off to the main door of the tower. "And thank you for your help, hopefully I'll have it sorted by the morning."

Once she got out of the school's building, Montmorency sighed and commented to herself. "Sometimes I don't know if her moniker of 'Zero' stands for her magic or her common sense."

"I wonder that too, my love…" Agreed her fiancée.

* * *

"I have to say, Miss Valliére," Began the stablemaster as he undid the ropes of one of the horses. "This must be a mighty emergency to have to borrowing a horse this late."

"Yes, and I have to get to my destination as swiftly as possible." She answered. "So please, do hurry up, I'll be on my way and you can go back to sleep."

The man shrugged. He really didn't want to start a discussion at this hour, he was already tired and he had to wake up early tomorrow, or was it later today? And this girl was in a hurry, maybe for a family problem or another business he hadn't had any proper reason to butt in in a noble's business.

Placing the bit in the mouth of the horse, he handed the reins to Louise as she finished climbing on the animal while he was busy releasing it. With a quick thanks, she motioned for the horse to start trotting their way out of the academy.

A few minutes later, she was riding at a nice speed on her way to the manor. The ruffling of leaves above her head let her know the Dark Templar was trailing her closely. The cool night air was making her cheeks sting as she made her mount speed up, she started to regret not getting a cowl during her outing with the Zerbst. She settled on gripping the reins tighter and then asking, "Zeratul, about where you were…"

" _Very well, young Louise. I promised you an explanation after all."_ Came his voice from above, without hints of effort from jumping from branch to branch and keeping up with her noticeable in his words.

* * *

The moment he read the dreaded fate of his people on the journal of terran origin, he felt everything he strived and worked so hard for, crumble away piece by piece. With the journal in hand, he blinked to the open window but kept himself visible, he climbed the exterior of the tower up to the roof of the building.

Alone, he sat down and released a sigh. Zeratul glanced at the night sky where the twin moons drifted closely to one another and he thought of home.

" _Were my efforts not enough?"_ He lamented, _"I gave my life for Aiur, but my people followed my end. Gone from the galaxy without a trace."_ He stared at Siesta's book and opened it again, recalling the meaning of the human writing symbols. _"Then why would Tassadar send me here?"_

Scanning the pages until he found the one where he left off, he saw many different pictures, both hand-drawn and printed images stuck to the weathered sheets, most of them being of distinct surfaces from planets that could easily be confused with the ones one would find on the many environments of this world, at least if one hadn't traveled as much as he had. Very few of them, at the end of the journal, depicted terran designs and zerg lifeforms with extremely detailed descriptions all over the pages they were in.

And then, somewhere near the end of the book, he saw it: the symbol of the Daelaam. An almost runic form which symbolized the peace and the unity among protoss of all castes, except for the Tal'darim as far as Zeratul knew, and heralded a new age of prosperity free from Amon and his hybrids.

Curious of the presence of the alien design on a terran belonging, he got some details about the past rebellion against the Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, with the help of the Queen of Blades herself, portraying a better future for the terrans by declaring peace with the protoss of the Daelaam. Zeratul almost chuckled at the thought of Artanis 'shaking hands', as was custom of the less developed allies, with a terran leader as a sign of friendship even after years of devastating war.

Remembering Artanis, the current leader with a great responsibility on his shoulders, Zeratul thought back on the many of his brethren he left behind in his quest for the truth of the prophecy. Vorazun was furious at him, grieving over the death of her mother and matriarch of the Nerazim, Raszagal. After all, he was responsible for her demise as it was a last ditch effort to release her from the clutches of the zerg back in the Brood War, a control similar to the one Amon was striving for with the corruption of the Khala.

He didn't get to know Fenix for too long before the betrayal of the zerg at the end of the previously mentioned war. A war that claimed a great number of important figures of every faction. The joy he displayed in battle was an inspiration for the troops who followed him to the battlefield, even if he was bound to the shell of a dragoon after he was gravely injured in his duty of defending the few remaining patches of Aiur during the zerg invasion. Later, Zeratul would learn that the Overmind discovered the location of the protoss home world the moment the Dark Templar slayed the first of the Cerebrates under its command.

On the terran side, James Raynor was a human who earned his trust through hard trials that corrected the course of his actions to help save the one he once loved. _"As underhanded as it might have seemed, his feelings were a factor of great leverage on his decision."_ He recalled. Leaving a Khaydarin crystal to the terran to translate better his motivations behind the shadows of the war itself was a gamble that paid off very well.

Speaking of the Queen, as emotionally unstable as she was at the time, she became crucial in the reinforcement of the terran rebellion with the newly formed Swarm. A Swarm free of the influence of the Xel'naga because of her re-infestation in the primal world of Zerus. _"I am not proud of manipulating any of them, but her thirst for vengeance was as powerful motivation as were friend Raynor's emotions."_ In truth, letting Sarah Kerrigan to be infested once more was a risky process that kept the majority of zerg organisms of the Koprulu Sector away from the one who could end it all.

Then, there was Tassadar himself. A ghost from the past. The one who killed the Overmind, but in doing so, paid the ultimate cost and turned the zerg on Aiur feral and even more aggressive than before. The former Executor learned the arts of the Dark Templars in his quest for understanding of the 'Fallen Ones' as the Conclave labeled them.

He left behind more brothers and sisters in arms, friends and allies alike. Everyone were probably thinking of him as another casualty of the most recent war. One whose life was taken away by the will of the Dark One using the body of a trusted friend like a puppet.

But he didn't feel entirely upset at this. He knew his time was coming to an end and Artanis would make the right choices to help everyone in the galaxy, nay, the universe to live safe. He would never get to see it, but he had faith in his people.

That faith suffered a devastating blow tonight.

Resting alone on the rooftop, he continued reading the few references to his people. Mentions of their technology and their philosophy were relatively abundant compared to the ones depicting the zerg. There was not a proper order in the chapters, if there were any, or in any of the topics the human wrote. A jumbled mess of different dates strewn around as if the author opened the journal and started writing on the first blank page he found. The font of the letters by itself was quite the opposite: coherent, in bold, recognizable characters and using elaborate and precise paragraphs to make a point across.

A shift in the illumination made him raise his head from the journal and stare at the Sun rising slowly from the east. The light revitalized his senses, the joints of the physical shell encapsulating his soul groaning in stiff protest as he rose to his feet. The moisture in the morning air gave him the little hydration he needed for the rest of the day and the fresh, clean open atmosphere was filtered through his skin.

He kept looking at the superheated ball of gas as it finished giving way to a new day and then back at the book in his hands, his eyes not bothered at all by the direct line of sight to the celestial body. _"I shall keep reading it later. I have to clear my head."_

Zeratul stored the journal in between the rags of the sash he wore. He sat back down on the rooftop of the tower and closed his eyes. He hadn't had the time to meditate and have his mind wander and relax since decades ago. Like some terrans liked to joke about, the protoss, despite the fact of being a super advanced civilization, were very spiritual and kept in touch with the power of their minds very frequently. Meditation was a common practice for them, finding peace and quiet in the midst of adversity was important to stay calm during trying times.

As he let his mind wander off, he felt the waves of nothingness ebbing around him. The shapes of nothing and the silent sounds of the Void calling to him, its essence soothing his worries but not banishing them entirely, just letting him to look at them from another angle, another perspective, another light. His brethren met an unexpected fate, but not at the claws of Amon and his minions. They fought and survived.

His sacrifice maybe wasn't as wasteful as it sounded now, though.

But what can he do now with this knowledge? He didn't know. He wanted to see the protoss stand proudly as they did over millennia once more, that he knew. But at this point it was beyond impossible, a farfetched idea. In the end, it was not the goal he had to achieve right now. For now, looking after Louise and helping her become a proper Void user was what he apparently came to do.

Also, what could keep him from investigating what was going on with the presence of Jorium in this world and the fact that objects, and people, from his universe happened to cross over. Since when those things were coming from? How and why?

" _Many questions and so little to work with. I hope I have the time to find the answers."_

Several hours later, nearing the evening, Zeratul sensed something off coming from somewhere within the walls of the academy. His meditation had worked wonders on his weary mind and his senses were as sharp as they were a few decades ago. Revitalized, he jumped down the tower he was standing on and touched the ground gracefully, without making a sound and making himself invisible.

He walked around the structure with a hand on the wall, trying to pinpoint the emissions of the signal. He wasn't entirely sure if it was psionic. It felt organic, unlike the ones coming from probes or observers, but it was strange. It couldn't be zerg, it was impossible to have one being dormant without it becoming ravenous with the desire to consume for so long.

Rounding around a corner, Zeratul stopped as he saw another human doing something similar to him, checking the walls of a particular spot. The figure wore a brown cloak and had their face covered with a hood as it knelt down to touch where the soil met the bricks of the structure. The human rose to its feet and raised its head, then pulled out a wand and tapped the wall a few times.

The firstborn approached slowly to the stranger as it finished its work and opted to merely observe, _'This is not enough of a reason to reveal myself.'_ He concluded.

After a sigh, the human left the scene, muttering something about 'a lecherous old goat' with a voice too soft to be from a male. Not wanting to dwell on the strange wording of the suspicious individual, Zeratul went to the stone wall and studied it closely.

The material felt loose, like wet sand mixed with gravel and the mortar holding it together had the same consistence of thick molasses. _"Magic is truly a fascinating thing."_ He said to himself. Looking around the place where the wand touched the wall, he saw the weakened stone appearing more normal after a couple meters or so.

" _I do not know for how much time this person has been doing this. I shall keep watch over it soon."_ He concluded, sensing the strange signal coming from the other side of the wall. Glancing up at the side of the building he was in front of, he saw one of the many windows that dotted the exterior of the school, open.

" _It is worrisome how these humans don't have a proper ventilation system yet."_

His climb took a few seconds, his navigation through the halls and hallways a few minutes. Mentally adding the twists and turns to the map in his head, he avoided the crowds of students and servants, often making use of the off brick to hang on to. The signal calling to him acting like a beacon for his steps, indicating a path to the lower levels of the academy.

The idle chatter of the humans served as a distraction for his thoughts, a few details of this world could be considered frivolous by many, but for an outsider like him, every single piece of information he could find was to be treated as invaluable. A particular something caught his attention as he passed what he could had guessed as the teacher's lounge.

"Miss Longueville, this is the third time you have checked the Vault." Implored an elderly voice.

An effeminate sigh could be heard and a response went "I know, Headmaster Osmond, but I believe there is nothing to lose if we're careful. After all, we should always err on the side of caution when it comes to guarding antique artifacts."

The Dark Templar leaned in closer to the doorframe, being mindful of the passing people in the hallway. Just in time to listen to the Headmaster answer. "Indeed, Miss Longueville. However, it should be best if we let it only be checked a couple of times a week. It consumes quite a few hours to go through the entirety of the contents of the Vault. I am a very busy man after all.

A light huff came from the secretary, "And what matters of importance do you have to do if I have already handled all of your appointments for the rest of the week?"

"Ah… well… I see your point." Conceded the old mage. If only there was a way to make paperwork easier to process and file. Without saying more the both of them went to the aforementioned place, where Zeratul followed them to.

Inside the Vault, not even an hour later, the three of them were in the middle of a gallery of various artifacts and items with many shapes and forms, some of them stored in boxes or on top of pedestals. All of them supposedly having untold power or a story behind them to speak of the feats that were made possible by their use.

Ignoring the humans as they went on their way to check on the items, mainly the female one making a beeline to the big black box in the middle of the room, Zeratul began his own search for the quasi-psionic signal which was getting stronger by each step he made to the rightmost wall of the Vault. If his orientation skills didn't betray him, he would have guessed that the weakened wall was right there.

There, right next to the edge of the room, a small metallic gas tank. The dull gray color and the small LED screen next to a faded sticker that probably was the label of the substance held within. Glancing at the humans doing their inspection way from him, Zeratul studied the integrity of the container by getting ahold of it.

The container was heavy and the fluid inside it sloshed lightly. Either its contents were an extremely dense liquid or a strongly compressed gas, judging by the weight. Hopefully the canister was solidly built, as were most terran items if his memory was correct, and there weren't any signs of leaks or damages to be found. The only flaws he noticed were the small scratches near the lid where a hose is supposed to be connected to collect the contents. However as he inspected the lid, he caught a faint trace of a familiar scent.

' _This is interesting…'_ First Jorium and now this? The surprises were never ending, it seemed.

"Very well, Miss Longueville. It seems nothing has changed during the last couple of days and it's getting quite late." Suggested the headmaster, "I think I'm going to bed, these old bones are in need of it."

"Very well, headmaster. I will be in my chambers if you need me." She finished, purposely ignoring the pleased expression on her superior.

Leaving the canister where it was, Zeratul followed them back outside. _'I will come back at a later time. I might find the answers I am searching in here.'_

* * *

Siesta was scared out of her mind.

The other maids in the manor shot her guilty looks as she passed the hallways wearing a uniform two sizes too small for her, a feat very possible due to her 'eye-catching' figure. She feared a small draft could leave her with nothing to cover herself.

To be honest, she never thought she would end up in a place like this because of accidentally eavesdropping. A dungeon? That she could fathom. The jail? Maybe that too. But never as a maid to a despicable character such as the royal messenger. And not expecting being in a situation like this one, was doing little good for her frayed nerves.

Attempting to pull her skirt down a little only for the stubborn thing to snap back into place, the maid went to the kitchens to gather the wine the count ordered her to get him. She had to admit, while her employer had a horrible reputation and didn't bother to show anything to defend himself from that statement, the opulent halls of the manor were nice to look at and they held a nice warmth that kept her from freezing in her questionable uniform. An enchantment perhaps? Or was it build with something to keep the warmth of the day? She didn't know and wanted to, if only to distract her for a few minutes.

The clacking of her heels, almost stilts, which made her almost stumble more than a few times, were the only sounds making her company. None of the other servants did talk that much, either from exhaustion or fear of making her more nervous than she already was.

The new layout of her surroundings made it a little harder for her to go back to Mott's personal quarters, not that she had that much of a rush to get there in the first place. She carried a bottle of wine, one of those expensive things which were served in fancy parties and was at least a century old, in one arm as she knocked on the beautifully wood carven portal and tried to not shift too much on her feet.

"Come in" Called out the voice of her new employer.

Siesta gulped as she opened the door and set foot inside the even more overly ornate and full of unnecessary paraphernalia, to her opinion. Being often surrounded by bare rooms and small, quaint decorations made her appreciate the benefits of a simple lifestyle, as opposed of the many places this manor had to offer.

So much space was wasted in many a luxurious objects such as the twin big wardrobes sitting by one side of the bedroom, the bed was the biggest she had ever laid eyes on. It could easily fit at least five people and still have room to move around, disgust was etched in her mind as she pictured the image of the blasted furniture being used in such a way by someone like Mott.

Quickly forgetting the mental imagery, she shook her head and meekly announced her presence to the noble standing in the middle of the habitation, his back facing her.

"C-Count Mott, your-"

"What had I told you about addressing me as?" He interrupted, not turning to face her.

Steeling herself, she began anew, "Master Mott, the Wave. I have brought your wine as you asked." She set the pair of glasses she carried on the tray she held with the bottle of finely fermented grape juice.

"Good, good." The count turned and walked over to the maid, grabbing a glass for himself and motioning her to pour him some.

As she did so, she asked. "Is there anything else I can help you with, Master?" She finished as an afterthought, disliking every time she called him that.

"Actually, my dear, there is." He said after brief consideration. "If you will, help yourself. This particular bottle is from when I inherited this property, a fine gift if you ask me." He drank from his glass, then letting out a relaxed sigh at the taste.

Siesta, seeing no other option, reluctantly took a glass and served herself. With shaking hands, she took a small sip as the count kept his eyes on her. She coughed a bit when it resulted stronger than she expected it to be.

"Ah… I should have warned you, some of the older bottles call for an acquired taste." He mentioned, getting closer to Siesta. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Here, let's get you more comfortable…"

All she could do was tremble.

* * *

The manor of Count Mott was a place very few missed while on a hike in the woods. The ostentatious building lied in the middle of the forest, away from the capital city and the academy. As Louise and Zeratul arrived there, they could see the sheer size of the property taking a few acres as plains for possible exotic animals to live in and other profitable goods to grow and have them harvested.

Louise's horse slowed down to a walk as they approached, letting it have a breather after miles of running. She looked up at the dimming tree tops under the moonlight to see the faint rustles of the leaves from the protoss following her as he stopped telling his story.

"Did that really happened?" She couldn't help but ask, "Is there really someone damaging the walls of the academy just like that?"

" _That is what I saw, young Louise. I can think of a few methods for someone to sneak into your school, but few seem feasible considering the lack of easy escape routes."_

"There's something that I don't understand, Zeratul." She lowered her voice to a whisper as she saw the gates of the manor near. "That was only the day after you left, two days ago, what happened the next one?"

" _I spent most of the next morning meditating, followed by looking after you two from afar."_ He explained, letting himself fall from the trees onto the ground when he saw the lack of them ahead.

"Then you saw what happened when…"

" _Yes, the headmaster had his hands tied on the matter, as far as I can tell."_ He shrugged. _"I don't understand you humans blackmailing each other for personal gain. Such actions would have gotten you killed in my society."_

"Yeah… I guess that could happen. But I still don't like how Siesta was taken away just like that." One of the guards stationed there saw her and motioned her to move closer, she did so. "But I guess that's why I'm here, right?"

" _Indeed."_ The Dark Templar agreed, then asked. _"Do you have a plan or do you want me to give you some advice?"_

"Shut up, I know what I'm doing." She hissed back.

The guard was a foot or so ahead of her, the tired eyes of the man bore on her as if asking her what could have made a child get lost in the forest by herself. He voiced his thoughts by addressing her. "Identify yourself and state your business, young lady."

Raising her voice, she said. "I am Louise LeBlanc Françoise de la Valliére. I am here to speak with the Count Mott over a misunderstanding with his most recent hiring."

"I am afraid I have to ask you to return in the morning, the count does not accept visits at this hour." Declared the guard. "If you wish, I can send someone to escort you back to town. This part of the forest is more dangerous at night." He offered.

Louise shook her head and said back. "Please, it is of the upmost importance for the count to hear what I came to say."

The guard sighed tiredly, "Then you can tell me and I shall relay the message to him."

"I will not, I have to talk with him personally." She stubbornly told him.

Before the guard could retort again, a flash came from her left and impacted with the man. He froze in place, his face not showing any recognition of the spell he was under. Pouting, Louise stared at the place where Zeratul she imagined would be and told him "I was about to convince him, you know."

" _Indeed, but being over six hundred years old doesn't mean I want to wait another century for that to happen."_

"Hearing something like that from you sounds weird…" She commented as she nudged her horse forward, "What are you going to do with him? I've heard you say that this Void Prison lasts for half a minute at most."

" _The power of the Void has many uses. Most of them manipulate the space and time, a few of them involve the mind."_ He told her as he walked over the spellbound human. _"I find it fitting to show you your first practical lesson firsthand."_

The spell wore off as quick as it was casted and before he could notice what happened an inhumanly large hand wrapped itself around his face. _"Sleep."_ The muffled yelp was cut short and his body went limp at his command.

"Is he alright?" She asked, staring at the unconscious guard being picked up by Zeratul and placed behind her spot on the horse.

" _He shall wake up in a couple of hours, more time than we need for this rescue mission you set yourself in. While my own technique pales in comparison the most powerful entities of my race, the Void had granted me lesser ways of manipulating the weaker minds."_ He turned invisible once again and went to the gate where a second guard was standing, now close enough to notice something was wrong. He couldn't even raise his own voice as he too fell under the strange spell of the Nerazim.

" _How are going to retrieve gifted Siesta without raising suspicion to yourself?"_ He asked as he opened the gate to the manor and proceeded to hide the bodies among the hedges heading to the main door of the building.

Louise dismounted her mount and paused to tie the reins to the gate. "I was thinking on using my family name to demand her contract to be nullified and to transfer her services to me. But seeing that there are two unconscious guards and we already entered his property without permission, then I suppose we'll have to sneak our way in and get her out."

" _Did you really think he would listen to your demands, or simply dismiss them like the threats from your headmaster?"_ No curiosity was found in his tone. _"Take heed on my words, young Louise. Planning is more than setting a goal, it means taking into account anything that can go wrong and will go wrong. I have seen many leaders fall because of an unforeseen circumstance."_

"Then what do you suggest?"

" _I will scout ahead and find where gifted Siesta is located. In the meantime, find a way to get in the building."_ He pointed at a side of the manor. _"Do not worry, I shall know where you are."_

"Why don't you bring her with you instead of making me get in there?" She wondered.

" _Because I need you to be there, young Louise. I will cause a commotion in the opposite side of the manor, then send gifted Siesta to you. You two will leave on your steed and go back to the academy."_

"But what of the Count? Won't he send someone to retrieve Siesta again?"

" _For that, young Louise, I have a plan."_

* * *

She didn't mean to. Did she?

It was an accident. Wasn't it?

She didn't want might had happened. Fear clawed at her at the moment.

Staring at the body of Count Mott slumped at the base of a cracked wall and the remains of a wardrobe, Siesta fell to her knees and cried.


	13. Chapter 12 Infiltration

**Author Note: Well... Here's the next chapter. It's a bite-sized one for you to snack at midnight.**

 **In other news, I found out that my cat has a thing for biting feet. He's weird like that, it seems.**

 **Onward to the reviews!**

 **Heir of Void, Captiosus, doom2099, halo is bad ass: You know how that phrase about plans and first steps goes, right? More of count crunch over here.**

 **Guest, Pink Zealot, Buterflypuss: Thanks.**

* * *

Chapter 12. Infiltration.

Zeratul found it unsurprisingly easy to sneak into the manor with the experience of his entire lifetime as a Dark Templar. Checking every corner, avoiding making any noise, tailing the few guards he encountered to find his way inside the spiraling halls of the building. Aside from the main hall, there were no other significant ornaments that showed where he was, just rows after rows of similar paintings and suits of armor which never saw any use. However, he as used to being in new surroundings and soon began to map out the place in his mind.

Once or twice he found himself back at the main hall, the first times on purpose as to determine the main paths used to get to the various confines of the manor. He had to be careful as to not open any doors whenever he pleased, he didn't know if magic could be used to warn anyone if one was tampered with or if there were any servants close by who would freak out at the sight of a haunted door moving by itself. Maybe they didn't know how to use proper alarm systems based on the fundamental power of magic, like terrans did with electricity or zerg with biological signals, but he wanted to err on the side of caution.

Despite wanting to learn everything he needed to know about his infiltration site, he also wanted to hurry and find Siesta before anything happened to her. He wasn't too sure as to what exactly could happen, only catching a few words of girls being forcefully taken away from their homes to work as Mott's maids and never be heard from again, he couldn't afford to waste any time at all.

Then, he felt it.

A resounding blast, not unlike the explosions from Louise, followed it. But no one seemed to having heard it.

Zeratul knew what it meant and sensed the direction of the source of the psionic burst. Even though it was short, he managed to figure out it came from the western side of the manor, not too far from him.

The Dark Templar raced past the unsuspecting staff of the mansion, avoiding to trip over any of them and making no sound. He saw a couple of guards walking hurriedly in the same direction as he, probably ones who noticed the faint rumble of something breaking, hopefully not a body.

The guards were quickly left behind him as Zeratul ran forward and turned on a corner, just before reaching the opulent doors of presumably the personal quarters of Count Mott. Glancing at the corner he just went past, he saw he still had time before anyone noticed him entering the room and got in.

The sight before him could be described as a mess. An utter, disastrous mess. He casted Void Prison on the closed door to buy himself some time to figure out what had happened. There was a small human-shaped indent in a wall directly in front of the bad and whatever piece of furniture was in shambles. In the small pile of wood and splinters was a body of a man dressed elegantly slumped against the wall.

In the middle of it all, was Siesta. The girl was hugging her knees and sobbing, dressed in a different uniform than she was usually wore. It didn't take him more than a second to figure out what had just happened.

He walked past the sobbing girl and knelt down before the owner of the new decoration on the wall. Of the few things he knew about terran, or human, physiology, he touched the neck of the man and felt the faint pulse of his bloodstream, there were no visible punctures and the slight movement of his chest as he struggled to breathe were enough signs that the count was going to live, hopefully.

When he finished checking the unconscious man, he went over to Siesta, who hadn't noticed his appearance. He turned himself visible to her and gently placed a hand on her now messy hair. He told her. _"Calm down, gifted Siesta. We have come for you."_

Just like that, the girl stopped crying and rose her face to meet the glowing eyes of the alien. A glance past him showed her the body of her would be assailant, she looked up once again at Zeratul and asked him. "Is he…?"

" _He is still alive, barely."_ The maid sighed in relief, yet she didn't stop shaking. Not finding any escape routes, he told her. _"Young Louise is looking for somewhere to take our leave, but we have to find a way to get you there first."_

There was a banging on the door and someone on the other side asked, "Count Mott, sir, is everything alright? We heard a loud noise and wanted to know if it was you." Zeratul made himself invisible, much to the distress of Siesta's poor nerves and waited for his Void Prison to dispel itself.

"Zeratul, what am I going to do?!" She hissed in hysterics at where he was supposed to be. "There's no way they're going to turn a blind eye to this, they'll start asking questions and then they won't believe me when I tell them that I launched him through a dresser with my mind and then-"

" _Calm down, gifted one!"_ He told her in her mind. She felt the two weights on her shoulders, unlike the figurative one she carried at the moment. _"If you are in emotional turmoil, you become more prone to another backlash."_

She stopped her ranting and closed her eyes. "I… I'm sorry…"

" _Do not be. Just follow as I say."_

"Count Mott?" Came the voice of the guard once again. "I'm going in." He opened the door and found the state of the bedroom and his employer. "By the Founder!" He exclaimed, "What happened?!"

Instructing his partner to fetch the personal doctor of the count, he dashed to where the man was lying on the floor and started checking if he was still alive. Once satisfied with the knowledge he wasn't going to be unemployed for the time being, he addressed the only other person in the room.

"Miss, did you see what happened here?"

The young maid, terrified at the prospect of the situation she was in, began. "I… He…" She paused to find the words, "I… interrupted him before he could finish a spell." She mumbled.

The man hummed and asked her. "Is it true?"

"Yes." She answered. "I think it made his spell to misfire." She apparently guessed.

"Is that so…" The guard looked at the sorry state of the room once again and then a thought occurred to him. "If that's the case, then why did he even tried to cast a spell at that moment?"

For a split second, a tinge of panic rose on her face only to give way to a distressed expression just as quick. The girl then answered, "He was getting too close… I was so afraid and he tried to do something to calm me down." Taking a deep breath, she continued in rush, "When he started waving his wand I panicked and pushed him away and it just happened."

"Hmm… Then I will have to ask you to wait here while my partner comes back here and-" He was interrupted by a groaning and they both turned to see the slumped form of Count Mott regaining consciousness.

"Hrgn…" The guard was at his side as fast as possible and knelt down to help him get in a more comfortable position. Or at least one in which he could breathe easier. "Dungeon." He muttered.

"Huh?"

The count, with whatever strength he had, grabbed the guard by the arm and pulled him down to repeat himself more clearly, "Send the bitch to the dungeon with the others." All sense of self-measured attitude gone and replaced with a scornful scowl.

"But, sir…" The seething glare from his employer shut him up. "Understood, sir." He went to the girl, who was apparently lost in thought. "Miss, please follow me." He helped her stand up and led her outside.

" _Worry not, gifted Siesta. This could prove beneficial for our escape."_

" _I hope you're right, Zeratul…"_ Siesta thought back.

* * *

"Argh… Stupid, old, cryptic, faceless sorry excuse of a mentor." Muttered angrily Louise as she stomped around the southern side of the manor for the third time. Try as she might, she couldn't find any exits or windows she could exploit to help Zeratul and Siesta escape.

She had spent most of an hour going around the main building of the manor, hiding from patrolling guards at the best of her abilities. The twigs and leaves stuck in her pink locks were evidence of her efforts and the mud starting to stain her shoes and socks were worn as the scars of her labor. At least in her eyes.

As she dived in another patch of shrubbery, she noticed something a few yards away being illuminated under the lantern of a patrol. A small shed, not bigger than the kitchens of the academy, was hidden away from anyone who saw the count's manor from the front gate.

Curious, she memorized the place where the odd little building was and waited for the guard to leave. Once she was sure he was away enough to not hear the crunching of leaves and branches, she bolted.

After a long night of worrying, riding and sneaking around, her legs felt like jelly at the fact she still had to run from one place to another after all of this. When she arrived at the small shed, she leaned against it panting and slid into a sitting position.

A clanging was heard soon after she sat down, like chains rattling against a rough surface. A snapping of metal clashing and a turning of a key followed suit. Her head snapped into attention and searched for the source of the noise.

A foot or so to her left, were the soil met the cobblestone that made the wall of the shed, was a hole in the shape of a semicircle with a few iron bars in it. Like those strange 'sewer' thingies she had seen before in some places of the capital. One time she asked her Henrietta about them and she simply said it was for the rain water to go away and not flood the streets.

"Why is this here?" She asked herself. She was by no means an architect, but even she could see the flawed reasoning for a thing like this to be here. As she inspected the oddity closer, the rattling of chains and a few muffled voices came from it. Then it dawned in her what it really was.

" _Ah… I sense you're here, young Louise. I believe we have a problem in our hands."_ Came the voice of Zeratul in her head.

"Please tell me you didn't get captured." She deadpanned, her face still close to the window to the dungeon.

" _No, but your friend here did."_ Answered the Dark Templar. _"She was taken here just as you arrived."_

"Is she here? Is she alright?" She asked worriedly.

" _It appears she does, young Louise. But I am afraid this Count Mott is planning to interrogate her soon."_

"Can you get her out of here? I found out you're below a small shed just outside the main manor, if I blow a hole in this thing you could make a break for it." She suggested.

" _I'm afraid it would not be the best option."_

"Why?"

" _Because we are not the only ones here. It seems there are more prisoners in this place. All in cages."_ He told her, she quickly pictured it in her head in disgust. _"There is not enough time to get them out and I can't do it without revealing myself. It would only raise more questions. Questions they must not hear their answers to."_ He explained.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

" _Hmm…"_ She could almost feel his thoughts churning together a plan. _"I have an idea, but you won't like it."_

"What is it?" She barely dared to ask.

" _I need you to dare the Count Mott to a duel."_

Louise sighed, taking note of her current muddy appearance and her tiredness. "You better thank me for this, Siesta…"


	14. Chapter 13 Down in the Dungeon

**Author Note: Well, it's a lot shorter than I wanted and a little too awkward of an update hour. This is a bit more of a some pieces falling in place before the reveal in next chapter. But that is going to take until next week (I guess). There are a lot of things I still have to do with schoolwork, now that the semester is ending.**

 **Seeing the amount of people following this story makes me feel more motivated to try to improve my writing. I'm really thankful for your support and to some of you of telling me where I made some mistakes.**

 **Now, on to the reviews:**

 **doom2099: Yeah, it does. Yeah, she does. And yeah, I'm too.**

 **buterflypuss: I'm appointing you as a seal of approval from now on, I guess...**

* * *

Chapter 13. Down in the Dungeon.

Siesta sighed as she felt her arms burning from being stretched above her head for more than half an hour. The shackles that were starting to chaff her wrists and her shortened breathing weren't helping matters either. Her thoughts were on the warning from Zeratul that he was going to be away for a while helping Louise with her challenge, not completely reassuring in her opinion, and fortunately due to her job having her scrubbing floors on an almost daily basis, she could endure a few hours in an uncomfortable position easily.

Despite her current state, she was more concerned by the other girls sitting in iron cages, she could see there were only three. For what it was worth, the cages had enough space for them to stand to full height and walk little more than a couple of feet. One of them sat in her corner, hugging her legs, in silence as she stared at nothing with an eerie lack of emotion. The other two were asleep.

The maid, or former maid? was a bit thankful that none of her current companions in the dungeon had any visible bruises and had similar uniforms to the one Siesta wore, albeit more worn and dirty, but it could also be attributed to the lack of lightning.

"Hey…" She called out to the closest one, who apparently didn't hear her. She tried once again, just a bit louder, "Hello? Um… Are you alright?"

The girl snapped out of her trance and looked at Siesta. "Oh…" Blinking a few times and shaking her head, she responded softly. "I didn't see you there…"

Siesta strained her hearing to listen to her fellow prisoner, "Yes, I'm fine. All things considered."

"What's your name? Mine's Siesta." She said, wishing to at least have something to distract her from the silence and the darkness of the dungeon.

She waited for a few seconds for her question to be registered by the girl. She uttered, "My name's Mary." She hugged herself closer. "Are you new?"

Siesta nodded, "I am, I got here just today." She shook her shackles, "Guess I'm not entirely welcome."

Mary sighed and looked down again. "Don't worry, if you're lucky he's going to let you go back out there with a warning."

"Really?" She tilted her head.

"Yeah… But if you don't behave, he'll send you down her with us." She pointed at the girl in the farthest cage. "Rose has been here the longest, she says that once he gets a certain number of girls, he disposes of them."

Siesta gasped, she knew the rumors surrounding the count were morbid about the lack of whereabouts of the girls he employed. But dissipating whatever security she had about her wellbeing of it being just a rumor, she couldn't help but feel fear grip her heart more than she had ever felt in her life. The next words of Mary didn't help either.

"She told me that he silences the girls in batches in order to lower the cost of it, transport, disposal and all that." She finished with a deadpan, with an indifference of knowing her fate was already sealed.

"Hey, don't say that." Said the chained girl, "Look, I know someone who is trying to get us out of here. I promise." She didn't know if she was saying it for herself or to comfort the other prisoners.

"Keep telling yourself that. It sounded like a lie the last time I said it to myself."

As Siesta tried to rebuke, the entrance to the dungeon opened and light came pouring in. The silhouette of a man was visible as he went down the stairs to where she was.

"How did you do it?!" Exclaimed Count Mott. His face red with anger and shortened breath, no doubt because of the recently healed ribs and the amount of willpower required to accomplish such a task in short amount of time.

Trembling in place, Siesta asked back. "What do you mean, Count?"

A slap set her face to the right, her left cheek stinging as she cried out. "Don't play coy with me, you witch! You know what you did. Now tell me!"

Reeling from the slap, she tried to answer. "I-I don't know! I swear!"

A few whimpers from the other girls he kept in a 'solitary confinement' and had woken up due to the sudden noise brought him to compose himself back to a calmer, if not less angry, state of mind. "Sorry, girls. It's not you whom I angry at." He addressed them. "But this one is dangerous to keep."

Glancing at the entirety of his personal prison, he said aloud. "But that can be resolved, though. It seems there are enough of you ladies to have a little, ahem, excursion."

One of them began to bawl and the count was quick to hush her. "Kassandra, don't cry. I can't bear to see you cry like that." He walked up to the cage she was in, "Once you get out of here, you will be free to meet your cousin again. Isn't that good?"

Siesta grit her teeth at his words. The lack of care in this man was almost ridiculous. She had to deal with nobles with for less than a year and she had thought she had seen everything when it came to lack of empathy of others, but no. This excuse of a noble was something else entirely. She could feel the links in her chains vibrating with her newly awakened power, yet it could also be confused with her shaking in an anger born of disbelief.

"Now that the matter is settled, let us go back to the only reason I wanted you here instead of having you executed on the spot." He cupped the girl's chin in his hand. "Tell me wha-"

"Master Mott! Master Mott!" Exclaimed one of his guards from the entrance of his dungeon. "There is someone who wants to see you."

* * *

"Ok, so let me get this straight." Said Kirche, pinching the bridge of her nose for the fourth time this minute. "You." She pointed downward. "Are the spirit of a sword trapped in an interdimensional being and neither of you are actually alive in the biological sense of the word and both of you are merged together as a familiar."

"Confusing." Said Tabitha, who was too with her self-proclaimed best friend. Not many things escaped her capacity to understand complex subjects and terms, but this one certainly was giving her a run for her money.

"Yeah… That's the gist of it, yeah."

"And came barging into my room because…" Kirche said as she rotated her hand, asking for her guest to continue.

"Pinky and Broody went to save that maid girl from this Count Mott. But then the runes started to feel all weird and now I want to go there and help."

"Tabitha, do you know what is he talking about? This is making less sense by the second."

"Yes, unfortunately." Was her short answer.

"Unfortunate, why?" Replied Kirche.

"We have to go. Now." The smaller girl began dragging Kirche by the hem of her nightgown, ignoring her protests to go to change herself.

Two short beeps and a whine made Derflinger grumble in defeat. "Well what do you want me to do?! It's your fault I'm stuck in your body, you disobedient tin can!"

A whistle and a boop answered him. "I know it sounds weird, but it doesn't makes it less true."


	15. Chapter 14 The Wave

**Author Notes: It feels like I haven't updated in a while and a lot has happened these past weeks. But since most of it are just old news, then there isn't too much to say.**

 **Did you know that there's a guy named Robert Mott that wrote a book about fluid mechanics? Is it a coincidence or an inspiration for the element of Count Mott? I don't know, guess we'll never know.**

 **But I do know that the holidays are here and I like them...**

 **Anyway, let's see the reviews:**

 **doom2099,truemmerphantom: Since Derflinger was able to get inside Saito's familiar rune, I figured that it could happen and I needed to make Derflinger be able to acompany Louise in her adventures.**

 **Tejerina: Yeah, he does give that impression.**

 **sacke110: She just had a rough childhood *Shrug*, and I guess it would be easier for her to be invested in getting a friend and roped into this mess if she wasn't as much of a jerk as she was in the original story.**

 **buterflypuss: Ah, yes. The seal of approval**

* * *

Chapter 14. The Wave.

The pink haired girl grumbled and crossed her arms. Zeratul left her to wait for the owner of the manor to meet her. She clearly remembered what she had to do, and she still wasn't sure herself if she was able to deal with him alone.

She was tapping her foot in an unladylike manner but given her current state no one could blame her. She rode all the way over here form the academy in the middle of the night, she hadn't slept since yesterday and she had been dragging herself through the mud and bushes for the most part of the last hour.

"First I call for the count and challenge him into a duel for Siesta's freedom." She reached for her wand and kept it in her hand, making her intent clear to anyone who saw her.

The guard who was sent to go for the count left less than five minutes ago, along with Zeratul himself. She stood at the entrance to the main hall, not to far from the staircase in the middle that went up to the wall opposite to her and split in two directions of the upper floor

The entrance of Count Mott to the main hall drew her attention to him. His appearance, usually described as flamboyant, was more fitting for someone who had run a marathon in a clown suit. His hair seemed like it had been hurriedly combed after a strong gale, his face was sweaty and red like a tomato. Long gone was the poise he proudly boasted whenever he went, replaced by a slouched and tired posture that did little to flatter his out of shape body.

As soon as the noble entered her sight, she felt Zeratul's presence come to her side. She whispered a question at the protoss. "What happened to him?" More curious than concerned.

" _He was recently injured after gifted Siesta's psionics lashing out."_ Louise raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"Did she actually do that?" To say that she was surprised was an understatement, it made sense now why Siesta was in the dungeons.

" _Indeed,"_ Replied Zeratul as the count approached her. _"however, I have to ask you to stall the proposal to a duel. In his current state Mott shouldn't be much of a threat, but you aren't in peak condition either. In the mean time I will go to free the prisoners. Should anything go wrong, cast an explosion."_ His words spoken to her mind in less than a second but nonetheless understood.

"But how can I defeat him? You told me to challenge him just like that." She bit her thumb, her anxiousness showing. To the presence of Count Mott or to her current objective, she couldn't tell.

" _If you can't find any topic to discuss, tell him about your knowledge of the dungeon, it should coax him into trying to reach a deal while I release them. We can leave once I'm done. I will come to aid you if a fight starts."_

With that, she was alone with Mott, who simply stared at her with the hints of a sneer barely being suppressed on his lips. Louise mustered her wits and greeted him by half-bowing.

"Greetings, Count Mott. I am Louise Françoise LeBlanc de la Valliére and I come to meet you in regard of an important message."

Managing a strained smile, the older noble answered. "Is that so?" He blinked and saw at the marred school uniform she was wearing. "I wouldn't believe such a claim coming from someone wearing such rags. Any peddler could have salvaged any piece of cloth and claim to be a figure of authority."

"Why you…" She grumbled before she caught herself. "The state of my attire is not of your concern, count. But I assure you that I am a member of the Valliére Family despite of your doubts."

Mott, not believing her claim and overall exasperated at the current course of his night, responded. "Look, little girl, I do not find amusing you getting inside of my property and making demands to speak to me." He straightened his hair. "Now that I think of it, how did you get past the guards."

"Uh… They seemed to believe my words as I am in fact a noble." She answered. Crossing her arms, she continued. "And I demand the respect is due to a person of my status."

The count facepalmed at the stubbornness of the girl. Then he took notice of her wand, for all he knew it could be a stick she found in the forest like the rest of her clothes. "You have nothing to demand from me. Now, for the last time, leave my property right now or I will call the guards to cast you out."

' _Crap, he won't hear a word I say'_ Thought Louise. It seemed like the plan she originally had to come here and try to negotiate the freedom of her friend was doomed to fail from the beginning if Mott wasn't even willing to listen to her.

"Fine, I'll leave!" She stomped her foot. "But then everyone else will know of your personal dungeon where you keep the maids who won't let you do your bidding." She threatened, smirking at the bad poker face the man sported.

"How did you- I don't- There's no proof of any of that." He stammered.

"Oh, but I found out just recently through a… ah a friend of mine." Louise finished. Trying not to give too much information.

"And who is that friend of yours, hm?" Mott asked. "The things some people say are just rumors, baseless rumors."

"I wouldn't think of it as a rumor if you are acting so defensive, Count." Tested Louise. "Even less so if those rumors came from someone working for you."

"Urk…" He couldn't understand. He had bought the loyalty of his personnel with either money, prizes or fear. None of them would speak up without him knowing, since he had people watching over his servants all the time.

"But I'd like to think it is nothing more than just words. Right, Count Mott?"

"Yes… just words. Uttered by those envious of my wealth and the people I'm surrounded with." He reassured her. "And words you shouldn't be speaking about either."

"Why is that, Count Mott?" Asked Louise, fidgeting with her wand but not taking her eyes off the count.

"I find it highly doubtful that someone would just throw these petty accusations to my person. Not without any solid proof, that is." He reasoned. After all, if none of his staff alerted him of the one leaking information about him and his private activities, then how could someone could have found out of them so easily? There had to me something more at play.

' _Double crap. No I have to tell him about Siesta.'_ "I have proof of it, actually." She told him.

"And what would that be, girl?" He inquired. A smug grin now on his face.

"My friend was recently hired by you. And she is the one currently in that dreadful place."

The count then did something she wasn't expecting: He started to laugh. "Ha, ha, ha, ha. Do you seriously think I am going to fall for such a farce? I can't believe you are so serious of coming all the way here from whatever backwater town hoping to demand something form me."

"What?!" She yelled in disbelief. The gall of this guy…

"Furthermore, I think you have wasted enough of my precious time. Now, go back to your home and don't come back, you filthy peasa-"

* * *

After following the guard down to the dungeons and putting him to sleep once there was no way for anyone else to notice him, Zeratul searched for keys to unshackle the maid. Finding nothing, he went to see Siesta trying to calm down one of the crying girls.

"Shh, shh. Calm down, Kassandra. We're going to be fine. Don't worry." Despite being chained to a wall and not allowed to any kind of comforting gestures, she tried her best to try to keep her from crying.

"I'm not completely sure if you've noticed this, Siesta. But being trapped in here is more than enough proof to know that no one cares to make sure we're alright." Said another girl.

"C'mon, Mary. Don't be like that. I know for sure a couple of friends of mine are doing everything they can to get us out of here." She reassured them.

"Sure, whatever." Zeratul hear her sigh, "But that's only because they are coming for you, if at all, not the rest of us."

Turning on the corner, he saw them. Three of them were in cages in front of Siesta, who was in the same place as he last saw her. Even though she was in such a dreadful situation, she kept her hopes up for the sake of her current company.

" _Sleep"_ He waved his hand to the caged girls, who obeyed his command unceremoniously and made Siesta 'eep' at the sudden act.

"Zeratul, you're here!" She shouted in joy as the protoss made himself visible now that no one could see him.

He grabbed the shackles holding her wrists in place and with a strong tug he broke them. As Siesta fought the soreness off her arms, he repeated the same with her ankles. _"Now, we leave."_

"What about them?" Asked the human pointing at the cages.

" _We cannot do anything without raising any more suspicion than we already have."_ He motioned at the slumped body of the sleeping guard. _"Even if I managed to pacify anyone else that crossed our path, we still have to carry the three of them outside. Then, we would have to leave them alone somewhere safe where this count couldn't find them."_

"But they are going to die if we don't do anything!" She yelled.

" _I may not be able to do anything. But I didn't say they won't be helped."_

"Then who is going to help them?" She asked, confused. "The only one left able to do something is Miss Valliére and I sincerely doubt she can convince Mott to set them free."

" _In that I can agree, gifted Siesta. There is a plan in which she challenges him to a duel, with any luck I might get her to add the other ones to the bargain before-"_

* **BOOM***

A thundering rumble shook the innards the manor and the walls vibrated with such force that dust fell from the gaps in the brickwork. Siesta stared dumbfounded at Zeratul before he vanished without a word, leaving her alone in a room with three unconscious girls and a guard.

"I sincerely wish I could get some vacations once this is all over." She lamented.

* * *

She was trembling with rage. The rational part of her mind was screaming at her for her rash action and the rest of her was crying for blood. Then, she realized that she had just attacked a noble out of nowhere.

The man was splayed at the foot of the staircase, dazed but otherwise conscious. He shook his head, got on his feet and took his wand. With a quick motion, he materialized ice shards and sent them flying at the girl.

"You will pay for this, girl!" He bellowed. The girl managed to barely dodge in time by throwing herself to the ground. "Mere seconds ago, I was willing to look the other way and let you go. But now you made yourself a dangerous enemy."

Louise didn't say anything in response. Her mind too focused on not being skewered by a flying piece of ice. Back pedaling a few steps, she pointed her wand at the count. "Fireball!"

Another explosion followed suit afoot or two to the side of the count. The force of the blast sent him stumbling down and fall on to his already softened ribs. He cried out in pain as the recently damaged and healed boy was again on the receiving end of a concussive force.

"Enough of this!" Wheezed Mott. "'ll have you known that I am not a triangle class water mage for no reason. I am Mott 'The Wave' and I am not going to be trampled by a girl with short temper!"

Chanting words of power and raising his wand in specific directions, Mott leveled his magic focus on Louise. A torrent of water seemed to appear out of thin air, like the air itself was being liquified into it. The column of water started to spin to the point it became a whirlwind. "Torrential Whirlwind!"

" _Young Louise, don't move!"_ She heard but didn't listen as her feet were rooted to the floor and opted to close her eyes as the spell neared her at great speed. Zeratul managed to place himself in front of Louise to protect her. He was sure his plasma shields could withstand the impact easily.

Before the water could even touch the shields of the protoss, it froze in midair. A second later it collapsed in pieces by its own weight and scattered all over the floor. Louise, curious of the unexpected happening, she looked behind her.

At some point the main door to the manor was knocked down and from there two girls, both climbing down from a blue dragon, stood. The one with blue hair and glasses lowered the gnarled staff she used to freeze the spell in place. The other one, the bane of Louise's existence, carried a metallic thing she was all too familiar with.

"It seems we arrived at the nick of time, eh Tabs?" Announced Kirche. She set down Zapper as it chirped. Tabitha settled with simply nodding and walking forward.

"Hey! You're welcome by the way, Pinky." Said… Zapper?

"Wait, what? WHAT?!" Yelled the owner of the now talking familiar. At this point, the excess of willpower usage and his recent injuries made the count to simply drop like a sack of potatoes at the sight of a thing like this happening. "Derflinger?"

"In the flesh… sorta." The rune above the lens glowed with each word. "Hey, minding going a bit forward, you piece of junk?" He asked the probe as it dutifully reached its master.

"You have a lot to explain, Valliére." Said Kirche as she crossed her arms. A predatory grin growing on her lips.

Then, once Derflinger and Zapper got close enough, Zeratul made himself visible to all. The Dark Templar had forgotten that the spirit of the sword was a detector

"Ok, I take that back. You have a lot and more to explain."


	16. Chapter 15 Free at Last

**Author Notes: Some of you might be wondering why I haven't uploaded in a month or so. My father got sick with meningitis and while he was in the hospital, my mom and I had to take turns with taking care of him and taking care of my sisters. I had a lot of things on my mind at the time and had to pawn off my laptop (Which I recovered last week) to help with the bills.**

 **Thankfully, my father has made a succesful recovery and everything's okay. My family is thankful of the doctors and the nurses and everyone in the hospital for helping him get better. Then again, I got to know a half sister who had never met my dad in person to visit.**

 **By the time everything calmed down, little more than a week ago, I got back to writing this chapter. Taking a step back and reading through what I wrote, it seemed strangely worded and was going nowhere so I wrote it all over again and I'm satisfied with the result.**

 **Now, with that finally out of the way. Let's see reviews, shall we?**

 **doom2099: No actual fights happen in that particular part of the anime, what happened was that Louise interviened right before Saito and Mott started to fight and the whole thing was solved by a porn magazine (I'm not kidding).**

 **Chrome Cheetah: I had to move a few things to make other things happen *shrug*. I too see it a bit hamfisted for my part, but it was the only way I saw to make those two to save Louise's sad planning capabilites.**

 **AxDevilman: Don't worry, everything's fine now.**

 **Sasha37: Maybe she should, I'm not too sure in what abilities she should actually have.**

 **Pink dark templa: Indeed he has.**

 **Arashi Tenebris: Once again, thanks for the tips. Seeing that most of the cast here is female I don't want to make them look like Mary Sues *Shudders in Star Wars*.**

 **Kragh50 and buterflypuss: Glad to know.**

* * *

Chapter 15. Free at Last.

"Well, I'm waiting." Said Kirche as she tapped her foot with her arms crossed. Her stern gaze betrayed by her sly grin. Louise wilted under the presence of her two acquaintances, not out of fear but of exhaustion.

"How did you get here? No, scratch that. Why are you even here?" Asked Louise.

"Well," Came Derflinger's voice from the rune on the probe. "I told them about your crazy stunt of visiting the guy over there to get your friend back."

"You little scandalmonger never know when to shut up." She blinked and asked. "And what did you do to Zapper?!"

The sword in the body of the familiar gasped in mock shock, "Me? It was your nosey piece of junk that started blinking a light on me the moment you left. But hey, at least I can move now, whenever your familiar wants to moves where I tell it to, or course."

" _Perhaps this is not the best moment to talk."_ Said Zeratul, still visible to everyone. The trio of girls and the probe turned to him. _"Anyone who heard your explosions are sure on their way here. I will go and get gifted Siesta a means to escape during the commotion."_

"Gifted Siesta? This is getting weirder by the second." Questioned Kirche, but she went unheard as the Dark Templar vanished from sight in a plume of smoke. A tug on her arm brought her attention to her diminutive friend who was pointing at the downed figure of the count.

"Is he alive?" Asked Derflinger. "'Cause I don't wanna be held accomplice of murder."

"Get him somewhere to rest." She said, walking over to the unconscious man. She knelt down and checked for any injuries that would make moving him troublesome, the others followed her closely. Kirche helped Tabitha with dragging the count out of the main hall, Louise being too tired to contribute.

Soon, the three of them brought him to the closest room available and dropped him on the bed. True to Zeratul's warning, not a minute passed before the sound of thunderous footsteps of several men scrambling to discover the source of the commotion. "C'mon, I have an idea." Whispered Kirche as she went to meet the men who were searching for anything unusual.

"You better not get us in troubles." Hissed Louise as she straightened her skirt and grimaced at her current state.

"Don't worry, unlike you, I know how to handle myself." Sassed the redhead. Much to the annoyance of her not so friend. Then, she let their presence known to the security body of the manor and let out an exaggerated sigh as she sauntered over the doorframe and leaned against it, the back of her hand resting on her forehead.

"My, oh my! What a terrible disgrace, what a terrible thing happened!" She airily exclaimed, gathering the attention of every men close by.

"Miss! What are you doing here? What happened?" Exclaimed one of them, trying to peer past the redhead's shoulder.

"It was terrible." Kirche said, fanning herself while she pulled the top of her uniform, drawing more than a couple of eyes. "My friends and I were on our way here when we saw one of your men lying in the middle of the road."

Other one of the guards leaned closer, concerned. "What happened to him?"

She kept the theatrics. "Oh, it was not only him. No, I'm afraid." Louise and Tabitha, for their part, couldn't believe these guys were actually listening to the germanian with such enraptured attention. "A thief! A dreadful ruffian came to burgle from your lord."

A few of the men there paled at the thought of having let some person enter the very property they were hired to protect in the first place. With a little hesitation, two of them backed away to check if there was anyone still lurking around. The one at the forefront said, "Is this person still here?"

"Goodness, no. He's no longer here." Answered the girl, speaking in a ladylike manner that Louise had to hold back a scoff. "We found him, and my friend here chased him out with an explosion spell before they could do much damage. What a misfortune it was to see that they had exhausted the poor Count to the point of passing out by the time we arrived."

"If that's true, then why was Count Mott doing in the main hall? He told us he was going to be in his personal quarters for the night." Another man argued.

"Does it really matter?" Asked Louise, "Maybe he went there to investigate why none of you were doing your-mph!"

"It was Fouquet." Declared Tabitha, with Louise's face in her grasp as the hot-headed girl struggled to break free despite the other one's lack of effort. This made most of the guards there to gasp in surprise. While very few people knew of the recent spike in Fouquet's activities, the existence of said thief was widely recognized even though no one had any idea of his identity.

"Founder! Are you sure it was him?"

"We are." She pointed at the bed where Mott was lying on. "Fouquet was distracted with Mott, we forced a retreat."

"Yes, indeed." Nodded Kirche, "Your lord wanted to test his own might. You know how prideful Count Mott can be, after working under him for so long. Am I right?" She assumed.

"No, Miss…" Trailed off the one at the front.

"I am Kirche Augusta Von Zerbst, of the kingdom of Germania." She properly introduced herself.

Realizing they were in presence of nobility from a foreign country, the guards stood a little taller and the man who was answering before continued. "No, Miss Von Zerbst. Count Mott shifts his security personnel every few months, except for a select bunch. We have been working here for a few weeks at most" He clarified. "Then again, who might be your companions to be able to drive off Fouquet, the Crumbling Dirt himself?"

"My companions, and fellow students at the Tristain Academy of Magic, and I came here on an errand from the Headmaster Osmond to clarify some aspects of a contract that was recently signed by your lord." She summarized.

The same guy who had been talking the most said. "We thank you for your assistance, Miss Zerbst. We'll take matters from here to let you return to the Academy while Count Mott recovers."

He was stopped when Louise, of all people, piped in, pulling Tabitha's hand from her face. "Wait, then you are not going to check if that thief is really gone? What about the guys out there knocked out?"

Kirche continued, quickly catching on to what the smaller girl was trying to say. "That's right. You guys can go ahead and fetch some cold water and a piece of cloth. I'm sure he will soon wake up, my friend's familiar made sure of it." She gestured to the probe.

"That's a strange creature, if I say so myself, Miss." Louise rolled her eyes at that. "But if you're sure you can handle yourselves alone, we'll take care of searching the grounds of the manor in the meantime." He finished, shrugging and motioning for the rest of the guards to follow him out.

Once they were gone, the germanian beauty released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Tabitha released Louise from her grasp and the latter fell on her butt by the sudden movement. Louise glared at the gallian who didn't took notice of her glare and went over to the unconscious noble.

Derflinger spoke up, "So… Are we gonna wake him up or what?" This earned a beep and a chirp from the body that was hosting him. "Yeah, shock therapy sounds about right. I knew you were good in the end, you floating ball of scrap!"

"No! Nothing like that. First, explain to me what happened to you." Louise pointed to what was her familiar. "I told Zapper to look after you and you went and possessed him without a thought. I knew having a talking sword was going to cause trouble and I went along with it! Now I don't have a familiar and you can follow me when you tell awful puns!" She ranted.

"Hey! It's not like I asked to be stolen by that weird alien guy of yours, Pinkie!" Retorted Derflinger. "And for your information, I'm not possessing your ball of junk. I am residing within your familiar's rune."

Tabitha perked up at that, "How so?"

The probe turned to her and the spirit said, "I am the Great Derflinger, a soul that was imbued into the sword for one of Brimir's four familiars. The Gandarlf, 'The Left Hand of God', was the one who protected him while he casted spells, for those where too long and required a good amount of willpower. I don't remember too much, but what I do remember is that I could transfer myself into the Gandarlf runes whenever I was allowed."

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe our little Zero here could have the same kind of familiar as the Founder did." Exclaimed Kirche with a spark in her eye. Louise sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Ok, fine. Let's say I believe you on transferring your soul into Zapper's runes, but that doesn't explain why you told these two to come here."

"It could be perhaps that he doesn't trust your decision-making, Valliére." Answered offhandedly her germanian acquaintance. "But I still have to admit his explanation holds some truth. Don't you think so, Tabs?" This earned a nod from the girl.

"Don't throw me under the cart, gorgeous." Hurriedly said Derflinger. "I just thought that Pinkie's plan would go sideways and she could use the extra hands and judging by her results, I'm glad I told you."

Red faced, Louise crossed her arms and said. "Insolent sword-thing-whatever you are… I don't know if you three being here is as helpful as you think, but it sure gave me some breathing room." She muttered at the end.

Then a groan was heard in the room, Count Mott was waking up. With clenched eyes and another pained groan, he asked. "What… is going on?" His vision cleared up and he saw the girls giving him looks ranging from indifference, to annoyance to downright hatred. It was easy to guess to whom those glares corresponded to.

"Finally, I was beginning to worry I would had no one to talk to other than the germanian the whole night." Exclaimed the pink haired girl, making Tabitha to deadpan at her more than she already did.

"What are you doing here? You can't be here, this is a private property!" He yelled and then tried to get up before a sharp pain in his torso stopped him. "Argh, just leave me alone!"

"It seems you forgot me already. I am Louise Francoise LeBlanc de la Valliére, and I came here earlier to get my friend out of your filthy hands." Kirche cleared her throat. "These two are my classmates from the Tristain Academy of Magic: Kirche and Tabitha."

Realization struck the count like thunder and he started patting himself, trying to find his wand so he could deal with the pest that was invading his home.

"Did you really think I wasn't going to have you unarmed after all the trouble you caused me?" Louise said, holding the item in her hand as she taunted him.

"You stormed my home and challenged me on a duel!" He yelled once again, "I must demand a compensation immediately, otherwise you three will face the consequences!"

"I did it for a reason. You, as well as everybody else in the region know about the rumors surrounding your treatment of the young girls you contract to be your maids. They vanish, never to be seen or heard from again." Said girl summarized.

He scoffed, "Those are simple rumors, spread by those commoners who are fired for not doing their jobs and living in misery. Surely you know how those false words are said and repeated time and time again, despite your own attempts at proving them wrong and baseless."

While Louise knew all to well how those things went, especially during her time in the academy, she also knew the truth behind the filthy dog before her. She glanced at Kirche who was suddenly interested in her own boots and sighed. "Yes, I know how lies can make my own life difficult. But gossip starts for a reason, in your case, everyone in this room knows what kind of person you are."

There was a knock on the door, followed by Tabitha opening it and allowing a maid pushing a cart with towels and a small bowl of water to come in. Her shaky steps and trembling hands didn't betray the nervousness in her being. However, as she took notice of the people in the habitation, her eyes lit up at the sight of the students she was working for not even a day ago.

"Siesta!" Exclaimed Louise as she rushed forward to embrace her in an uncharacteristic show of affection, then she whispered to the surprised maid. "Weren't you going to escape with Zeratul?"

To which Siesta answered in the same quiet manner, "I was about to leave the main hall but the guards sent me to fetch these things." After that, she said a little louder, "Miss Valliére, I am so glad to see you!"

The other two girls watching the reunion shared a glance at the strange closeness displayed by one of the brashest students in the academy with a commoner. Not that they minded that Siesta was a commoner, but it was strange to witness that nonetheless.

Mott, for his part, was making his best impression of a fish right out of the water. He could swear that girl was the very same that put him in his current injured state and should be wallowing in his dungeon with the others. "You… how?"

"Why are you so surprised, Mott?" Asked the redhead, "She's the maid you've recently hired, it's only natural that she's here working for you." She shrugged.

"I know why he's speechless." Interjected Louise, after separating herself from Siesta. "She was sent to the dungeons earlier today. I saw her from the shed just outside the main building." She accused, causing the man to clench his jaw and narrow his eyes. "That's what cemented my reason of challenging you, filthy dog!"

The count tried to get up once again, struggling to even raise his upper body and losing his composure. "That's it, you will never see the light of day again! Did you forget that I am working directly under the Royal Family? They will never listen to the words of a brat over someone of my position."

"Actually, as the third daughter of the Duchess Karin "the Heavy Wind" Dela Valliére, I hold more leverage than you and that's without counting the evidence I found when I searched around the grounds of your property." Disbelief was seen across the faces of everyone in the room, sans Tabitha who stayed unfazed and Zapper/Derflinger for obvious reasons, at the fact that the pink haired girl said that she was descendant of one of the most powerful magic users alive.

The Heavy Wind had many tales spun around her, from feats about her early ascension to knighthood and being personally trusted by the Queen herself, to stories about how she could blow away hundreds of soldiers from the battlefield with a single, half-chanted spell. Truly a figure of authority no one would like to cross at any time. And Kirche had spent most of the last year taunting the daughter of a mage who could obliterate her with a word.

But the disbelief from Mott was for another reason, "Do you really expect me to believe that?" He barked a laugh. "I'm sure the Heavy Wind wouldn't raise a mouthy brat so lost in her own delusions of grandeur. I don't know why I was so worried."

Tabitha used this moment to place her staff on top of the man's chest. "Stop making a fool of yourself." She applied some force on him. "Surrender and listen or else."

"Or what? You don't have any of that supposed evidence against me."

This time, it was Siesta who talked. "I beg to differ, sir. I was not alone down in that place, there were two other girls with me and they told me where they were from." She took a step forward, "They are terrified, they are alone and they think no one is going to get them out of there and for what? Not wanting to obey to your twisted whims and wanting to go home!"

A few light items in the room vibrated and shook as her voice rose, "And I want to go home too, I want to keep working in the Academy to help Miss Valliére and the other students. So you better-" Another step and this time even the furniture rumbled. "-let me and the other girls go or we are going to have a disagreement, ok?"

Louise grew anxious as she connected the dots with what Zeratul told her earlier about Siesta's psionic power awakening. She looked at Mott who was watching the agitated girl with wide eyes, trembling in frustration or fear, she didn't know.

"You did this…" He whispered and tried to get up once more only to be stopped by Tabitha again. "You witch forced me to send you down there where you belong. I will personally make sure you never see the light of day again."

As soon as he said this, the temperature of the room dropped sharply, and a whirlwind of dark smoke materialized out of nothing. The man stared frozen at the monster that emerged from the strange event.

Tall, lanky, faceless, wearing rags and pieces of strange metals and jewels. From his perspective, Mott could never think of a creature as horrendous as this. Then, it did something he would never think a being like the one before him could do without a mouth or anything akin to that. It spoke.

" _I'm afraid I can't allow you to harm my pupil any longer, foolish human."_ It strode with its long, awkwardly bent legs, to the man pinned on the bed. Neither of the girls were concerned with what was happening, like the visage before him was just a figment of his imagination, only their eyes being glued to the same thing he was seeing were the only indication it was probably real.

Even though he wasn't sure he was entirely processing what he was watching, the figure kept spewing words at him in his own head. _"I advice you to lay down your struggles and let these other humans to voice their deal. It is the only way I can guarantee your immediate well-being."_

At this point, the poor man was making his best impression of a drowning fish. Tonight, he felt like his brain was melting by the string of unbelievable things he had seen in the last few hours. He could only nod in his dumbfounded state.

Kirche stepped in, smugness unmatched by any other person alive on this world. "I think it is very clear what we want, isn't it girls?" The other three nodded. "First, you will never talk of this to anyone. After all, who would believe what you saw today?"

Louise continued with the second demand, "I want you to let Siesta to get her job back in the Academy immediately."

Lastly, a calmer, but still sneering Siesta added, "Finally, I want you to release those girls in the dungeon and if I find out you do this again, I will personally come here, consequences be damned, and make sure you are never able to pull something like this ever again. Got it?!"

Again, the stupefied count could only nod. Tabitha sighed and decided to search in a drawer nearby, deciding it was no longer needed to hold the man in place now that Zeratul was here to make sure nothing could escalate out of this.

"What are you doing, Tabs?" Asked Kirche, curious as her friend pulled a piece of parchment, a quill and an ink bottle.

"Contract. Better than words." She responded as she started to scribble down the terms of the deal with practiced ease. Taking in stride the fact they were strong-arming a noble to do what they wanted, like it was nothing special.

For their part, Siesta and Louise were quietly speaking to each other. The taller one was shaking from her sudden outburst. "Miss Valliére," She began, "I don't know what happened to me… It was as if all my anger and fear and-and-all of it just… Just blew up."

The other girl didn't know how to approach this. On one hand, she knew how her strange brand of magic provoked her spells to fail and explode, making her an outcast among her peers. On the other, as far as she knew, no other commoner had the same potential as her friend. So she decided to carefully thread this metaphorical minefield. "I saw it, Siesta. It's okay to be afraid but think of it this way." She offered the distressed woman a hug, which she accepted. "At least you have Zeratul and I to help you with your power."

" _That is indeed true, gifted Siesta."_ Supplied the Dark Templar, not taking his eyes off the terrified, bruised and exhausted man. _"And you should not be longer afraid of him, his current state won't allow him to do any har for the time being."_ By the way he sounded, he was only talking to the maid's mind to ease her frayed nerves.

The protoss probe, after staying silent during the confrontation went to its master, beeped a few times and spun in place in a seemingly cheery manner. The mechanical being's antics earned a few giggles from the girls.

"It does make me feel a bit better, thank you Zapper." Siesta said as she petted the familiar.

"Yeah, yeah. Good job, little bootlicker…" Muttered Derflinger, causing the maid to stop in shock and started asking for the reason behind his current predicament with Louise's familiar.

* * *

No longer than half an hour later, a contract was signed by Count Mott. Swearing to not speak a word of what transpired, agreeing to their demands and making sure nothing of the likes of this night to never happen again.

After that, the magic students were on their way to the Academy. Kirche, Tabitha, Louise and Siesta were riding on the back of horses. One of them was the one the pink haired girl brought on her mad quest for her friend's freedom, another one was provided by Mott's guards who didn't know any better from the situation. The four of them were ahead of Sylphid, who was carrying the three former prisoners on her back, all of them eager to get as far as possible from the manor. Zeratul and Derflinger/Zapper followed them from further back, to avoid any unwanted attention.

The sun was rising by the time they arrived to the walls of the great building of learning. As they slept through all the way until noon, they were thankful that today was day of Void.


	17. Chapter 16 Nightly Visit

**Author Note: Sorry for the slight delay. My family wanted to take me out to celebrate my birhtday a day earlier since my father was going to be busy tomorrow and I just got home. Other than that, there's nothing else on my end that needs to be said.**

 **Now, on to reviews...**

 **axDevilman: Don't think too much about it. I too get worried when an author goes silent for months.**

 **doom2099: I'm sorry to know that you had to go through something similar but also glad that everything got better at the end. About the whole Mott thingy, the anime is focuses a lot on comedy, boob jokes, tsundere syndrome and all that good stuff.**

 **kelkil: Soon.**

 **buterflypuss: Thanks chap.**

* * *

Chapter 16. Nightly Visit.

It was two days after Siesta was rescued from Count Mott and Louise felt like she was forgetting something. But what could it be? She had done her assignments left by her teachers, she made sure to practice the words of every spell she knew regularly (regardless of the obvious outcome), she had talked with Zeratul a couple of times to let her understand the nature of the Void energies and she had tolerated the presence of her germanian acquaintance ever since that day, much to her own chagrin. Things were getting into a nice routine, if she could say so herself, and she couldn't find anything that she could find missing or odd.

Maybe it was the legion of servants working in the academy worshiping the very ground she walked on. That was new. They paid special attention to her when she sat down to eat her meals in the dining hall instead of outside where she had been going to in the last couple of weeks. Apparently, Marteau, the head cook in the academy's kitchens had told the staff under him to make sure Louise get the best service out of all the students.

When she asked went to ask him about it, he simply let her know he was grateful for going out of her way to help a commoner and that he was glad he was wrong with his judgement of her character and doubting her current friendship with Siesta. Also, he was overjoyed with having new hands helping him in the kitchen in the form of the girls she helped rescue from Mott.

In the end, she understood why they were doing this but she wasn't entirely on board with having everyone treating her like she was some kind of hero. Not because she wasn't uncomfortable with the service she was treated with, as such thing was normal for a noble like herself, but it was because she wasn't used to being treated better than the people who were in the same social status as her. It wasn't her fault they wanted to do it so blatantly, but it felt like it by the way she caught the odd student glaring at her with envy.

Still, it didn't answer the fact she felt like she was forgetting something. But she kept drawing blanks.

Maybe it was her training with Zeratul, she wanted to start right away as soon as she had the time to. But since he was seen by Tabitha and Kirche and Derflinger revealed Zapper was not an actual living being, she had been pestered with questions by the redhead and occasionally prodded by the galian girl to clarify what she knew about the Protoss race. Why didn't they ask Zeratul about that? she couldn't say for sure.

Speaking of pestering, she just got out of one of their questioning not an hour earlier. Aside from the grating and crude questions from Kirche about alien biology, which she couldn't fathom to think why it was a good subject to tease her with, the few answers she had were mostly about what she felt with having a being from another world watching over her and what did she think of Siesta having 'mind powers' as she so elegantly put it. To be fair, Louise didn't exactly have a frame of reference when it came down to these things, after all, what were the chances of something else coming to Halkeginia in the same way as Zeratul, Zapper and Siesta's grandfather did?

Right?

Either way. Louise was making her way to her room after a long school day. She was tired, she had just had dinner and she was eager to catch some sleep after spending some time with Zapper. He had a knack for carrying Derflinger like some sort of trophy whenever she wasn't looking, or so that's what the artificial soul in the sword told her.

"Miss Valliére!" Louise stopped inches before crashing with the person calling her. She blinked a few times and she noticed what was before her was the very well-developed chest of Siesta. Cursing her short stature that made this kind of encounters more frequent than she was comfortable with, she shook her head.

"Oh, Siesta. Good evening, what brings you here?" She asked.

"Good evening to you too, Miss Valliére. I got worried after you weren't responding for the last minute or so." She said.

Louise waved her hand nonchalantly, "It's nothing. I was just thinking about the way Marteau and the others are making me look like I'm some kind of hero." She shrugged. "I'm only following the teachings of my mother about treating the commoners as the pillar of any kingdom."

Siesta responded with a kind smile, "I find it grand that you have that view, Miss Valliére."

"So," The pink haired girl started, "what brings you here? Not that I'm not glad you are here, but…"

"Ah, right." Siesta pulled an old book from a pocket in her uniform. "Zeratul gave me the journal back. He said he wanted us to read up on some of the pages he marked when we had the chance."

"Maybe that's the thing I forgot about." She said aloud to herself.

Siesta cocked her head and asked her, "Excuse me?" She gave the shorter girl the journal.

"Nothing, I just thought I was forgetting something." She opened the book and leafed through the pages written in a language she wasn't familiar with. "Hey, have you ever had that feeling you were forgetting something important?"

"Yes, all the time. But since I usually have to do the same things everyday, it often a small thing."

Louise stifled a yawn, "Well, I better go to bed now." She returned the old tome to Siesta and waved her goodbye.

"Of course. Have a good night, Miss Valliére!"

The student was in a good mood after her small chat with the maid. It felt nice to have someone to talk to in a nice, civilized manner. The way she was raised to do since she was a child.

However, her mood curdled a bit when she saw her neighbor. It wasn't a downright hate like she had felt in the past. It was more of a subdued annoyance that she tried to stomp down in the pursuit of a more civil front. She was half-way through the door and already dressed in her almost see-through nightgown. Louise's cheeks reddened in embarrassment and, in some secluded and reluctant place of her head, jealousy of the complexion of her classmate.

As soon as Kirche realized she was being stared at, a second or two at most judging by her familiarity with being the center of attention, and she lunged toward the smaller girl who had stopped couple of feet from her. "Louise!" She exclaimed.

Before she could do anything, Kirche had glomped her in a vice grip. She struggled, oh how she did struggled, but was to no avail. "Help! Can't brea-mph!"

She was released before she succumbed to oxygen deprivation. "What is it with you and trying to kill me with those flesh bags of yours, Zerbst!" She said between gasps.

"I'm wounded, Valliére." She clasped her hands and pressed them over her chest, and Louise cursed herself at following her hands. "I just want to show some affection you missed out on your first year."

"I'm not sure I like the kind of affection that tries to kill me." Responded the smaller girl. "Anyway, I'm going to bed." She went to open her door before the redhead grabbed her shoulder.

"Well, that's not very nice." She commented as Louise turned to face her. "But alas, I can't stop you from acting this way. However, I sincerely hope we can be friends someday, let the bygones be bygones."

Sighing, Louise said. "Yeah, someday… Goodnight, Zerbst."

"Likewise, Louise. Good luck with tomorrow's familiar show." The door to the germanian's room closed.

Louise stood there in front of her own chambers. Frozen.

She forgot there even was a show. Tomorrow.

If she recalled right, Princess Henrietta was attending.

Fantastic.

* * *

When she got on bed, she flopped unceremoniously and let out a loud groan.

"Hey, Pinkie. How di-" A pillow muffled Derflinger, in his scabbard. Zapper floated over to Louise and rested there, sensing her emotional distress.

"How did I forget? It's the whole point of having a familiar at this time of the year." She held the probe in her hands and asked it. "Please tell me you can do something useful and showy.

Zapper didn't say anything, naturally, and just flickered his pink lenses in a pattern. It didn't do much to make her feel better about her chances at making something presentable on the show.

"It's no use to think about it right now." She didn't bother to take off her uniform as she curled herself on her bed. "Maybe I'll have something done by tomorrow morning."

Night fell and everything was quiet for the first few hours of her slumber. Her worries seemed nonexistent while she kept her mind shut off the conscious world. The cool air made it easier for her to rest and bask in the warmth of her blankets. The pillow that she had thrown at Derflinger had long since fell to the floor and also served the sword a cushion to rest on.

A doorknob jiggled and turned. A cloaked figure slipped in the middle of the night and approached the sleeping girl on her bed. A hand reached to the blankets and pulled down to reveal the curtain of pink hair framing the young mage.

"Finally… After all this time-" She suddenly stopped. Frozen in time inside a glowing cage molded to her figure.

An oversized hand grabbed Louise from her shoulders and shook her awake. "Huh? Wha… What happened?"

" _Young Louise, wake up."_ She rubbed the corners of her eyes. _"An intruder has made their way here. What should I do with her?"_

"Intruder?" She looked at the shimmering human in a cloak, a hand extended in front of Louise's face and rigid like a statue. She eeped and fell off the bed. "Who are you?!" She asked, feeling dumb not a second later as she realized that the person was under a Void Prison. She reached for her wand in her uniform.

The spell had a short duration and marked its end by blinking a few times more and more violently until it broke. The intruder stood there, confused for a moment until she saw that Louise had seemingly moved from her bed to the floor in the blink of an eye.

"You!" Louise pointed her wand at the cloaked one. "State your business and I might show mercy!"

"Are you so quick to draw your wand to me, Louise Valliére?" The unknown woman asked. She removed the hood of her cloak to reveal none other than Princess Henrietta.

"Princess!" The girl dropped to her knees and bowed. "I'm sorry to act so rashly, please forgive me." She pleaded.

The princess smiled and said. "Do not bow, Louise Valliére. It is unbecoming of my childhood friend to treat me unlike like you don't appreciate our friendship."

"But, Princess, what are you doing here? I thought you were coming tomorrow."

"I thought it would be nice to visit my dear friend who I haven't seen in years. It looks like it's a good time to reminisce of our past play dates." The royal joyfully exclaimed, then she paused, pensive. "But there's something that's bugging me."

"What is it, Princess?"

"What did you do to move so fast? I was sure you were asleep." She inquired. The younger girl didn't know how to respond.

"Uh… Practice?"

Henrietta gasped and reached closer to inspect Louise, "Oh my goodness. Are you serious? Do people usually sneak in your room?" The she stopped and excitement rose in her expression. "Don't tell me you have a lover!" She squealed.

The void apprentice grew red in the face at the implication. "No, no, no, no, no, no! Nothing like that! Forget I said anything!"

"Oh but Louise, it's truly a wonderful thing that you have found someone to fall in love with." The princess continued bashfully as she ignored the mortification on Louise's part. "To come here every other night to spend time with you while the world stays ignorant of such a precious gift."

Then, her joyous bliss turned blank, "But what about Wardes? Does he know of this? Of course he doesn't, he would've never tolerate an affront like this! What are you thinking, Louise Valliére? To toy with a man's feelings."

As the princess rambled on and on about a nonexistent love triangle fit of a soap opera, Louise chose to simply stay silent as it was easier to let Henrietta lose the point of her question and move on.

"…And live happily ever after." Finished the royal. "Oh my, I better get back to the carriage before Agnes starts worrying and your nightly visit comes here."

The princess was half-way through the door and had bid her goodbye when Louise politely spoke up. "Good night, Henrietta. I hope you enjoy tomorrow's performance."

The moment she was alone, Louise wasted no time in burying her face in a pillow and scream.

"So that was… something." Commented Derflinger.

" _Indeed. It is not my place to judge a young kingdom's policies, but I would hardly recommend such an hyperactive youth in the throne."_

Her scream got louder and a bang on the wall came from Kirche's room.

"Hey, Valliére. Keep it down, will ya? Not even I am inconsiderate enough to keep the whole floor awake!"


	18. Chapter 17 Showtime

**Author Notes: Here it is. A few hours later than I wanted it to be, but here nonetheless.**

 **In other news, my father rescued a month old kitten that was in a box in the streets. No one was there nor paid attention to it, so we took it in.**

 **Let's see the reviews**

 **doom2099: The lessons will come after the thief is captured, it will be soon.**

 **AxDevilman: I will always answer. And yep, it's going to be another Louise-esque day.**

 **Kragh50 and buterflypuss: Thanks.**

* * *

Chapter 17. Showtime.

"Why is this happening to me?" Louise moaned into her pillow. She didn't get too much sleep last night, as her brain was too busy fretting over how she had forgotten such an important event. Her mother would be very disappointed, not to mention furious, if she knew her magically inept daughter was also a forgetful slacker.

Even worse, her childhood friend jumped to the conclusion that she was having an affair with some random student. She briefly wondered how many romantic novels and tales Henrietta had to read to reach those levels of imagination.

The rays of sunlight streamed through the window over to her face to mock her with the promise of how she was going to make a fool of herself in a few hours. Unless she managed to figure out a solution to her dilemma.

With small hope, she turned her head and asked Zapper, "Please tell me you know some trick."

The probe didn't say anything. It merely chirped and turned around to take a closer look at the doorknob with its strange cone of light. Louise groaned in an unladylike manner and threw her arms up in the air.

"I'm never going to prove them I'm good enough, am I?!" She cried. She swung her legs off the mattress and went to exit her room. Before she could reach her familiar, she felt Zeratul's heavy hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Now what?"

" _Young Louise, while this exhibition of sorts is not within my priorities, there is perhaps a way the probe can be of use."_

The girl perked up at that. "Really? Tell me." Her imagination began to run wild with what possibilities an alien race from a technologically advanced world could use for their amusement. So far, everything Zeratul had told her about his people were his beliefs and their war-related capabilities. Maybe there was a smidge of luck headed her way after her current streak of unbelievable event after inopportune circumstance.

The Dark Templar reached and grabbed the probe with one hand, it didn't seem to be uncomfortable at the sudden lift, then he pressed something on the side of the chassis. Louise's eyes shot wide open as a compartment opened up and a tiny metallic contraption emerged.

"Is that… I thought you told me that Zapper wasn't a living being." She mentioned with a disgusted look on her face. She wasn't sheltered from the fact that sometimes animals had to do what they had to do when they felt the urge to do so, her time learning horseback riding was a testament to that. But it was the easiness with which Zeratul was holding the thing that came from her familiar what got her concerned.

If Zeratul could blink in confusion, he would have done so. _"Yes, I did. Do not be concerned, Young Louise, you can put your surface thoughts at ease."_ He released his hold on the probe and brought the device closer to the girl for her to inspect it. _"This is a micro-beacon. Probes manufacture them."_

"What is this?" She cocked her head, "How is it going to help me in my presentation?" She held the micro-beacon in her hand. It was thing of silvery metal with a strange shape, in her eyes it looked like an orb that sprouted three small leg-like protrusions that ended in tiny, oblong towers. Other thing that impressed her was that despite it being barely smaller than her fingernail, it was heavier than she thought it would be, and the sheer complexity of its construction made her head spin. She could barely see the gaps in between the pieces taking part of the amorphous thing, she doubted even the most gifted and talented of craftsmen in all of Halkeginia could even hope to make something this intricate. The longer she stared at it, the more details she found.

She could have marveled at the product of her familiar's unique craftmanship for the rest of the day if Zeratul didn't manage to gain he attention back with a mental throat clearing sound. _"Please, Young Louise, heed my words and regain control of your salivary glands."_ The girl blushed and wiped her mouth with a piece of cloth she kept in a pocket of her uniform.

"Sorry, I was distracted." She held the micro-beacon closer to her face, "If I didn't know better, I would assume this belonged in the collection of some king. It looks so beautiful and delicate." She gushed. "Can Zapper make more?"

Zeratul remained silent for a few seconds, then he answered. _"In theory, yes. This probe is equipped with a nanofabricator both capable of constructing and maintaining its inner mechanisms and its manufactured devices."_ She held a blank stare for a second or two before it dawned on her what it meant.

"Ooh, I get it. Like a miniature workshop." She patted the top of her familiar with pride and said to it. "It seems you never stop surprising me, Zapper."

She turned again to Zeratul, "But since it works like a workshop, then it needs materials to work with, right?"

Content with the growing comprehension of the human, Zeratul continued. _"You are right. As you know, probes are the first sent to new territories and have to find the resources needed to manufacture and set a micro-beacon. As such, they can use minerals found in inorganic matter to extract the materials needed with their particle beam."_

He held out a hand and Louise gave him the device. He grabbed a handheld mirror from her drawer and attached both of them together, the leg-like around the orb acting like a claw digging into the handle, and gave it to the probe. It held it in a bubble of light and beeped thrice.

* * *

[Micro-Beacon Activation: Unable to reach closest Mothership. Unable to reach closest Nexus. Last Stand protocol: Currently Active.]

[Setting independent Micro-Beacon as Anchor_1

Maximum recall range: 5 kilometers.

Current amount of Micro-Beacon Anchors active: 1/4

Setting Anchor_1 to: Default

Recall order: _Yet to be declared by Executor_ ]

[Micro-Beacon Anchors status: 4/4 Manufactured. 0/4 Coupled. Anchor_1 Requesting for Receiver.]

[Micro-Beacon Receivers status: 4/4 Manufactured. 0/4 Coupled.]

[-WARNING-]

[Last Stand protocol is active: Further settings of existing Micro-Beacon Anchor/Receivers are to be done manually under the instructions of authorized personnel.]

[Last Stand protocol is active: Any number of Micro-Beacon Anchor/Receivers exceeding maximum amount are to deactivate for repurposing.]

[Last Stand protocol is active: Material consumption for fabrication of Micro-Beacon Anchor/Receivers set to passive during idle time.]

* * *

The compartment which the device Zapper was holding came from opened again to reveal a different item. This one had a centerpiece in the same shape of a flattened pyramid made of a pink opaque crystal and the protrusions seemed to hug the gem.

"You protoss like to make things look like jewelry, don't you?"

" _I understand why you would think that. Every time we come to dominate the functionality of what our technology had to offer, aesthetics become the last aspect we modify. It never should be the other way around."_

"So, what is this thing? Apart from being pretty." She asked.

" _Perhaps it would be wise to explain this in the way to the dining hall. Your absence might draw attention from the staff."_ Zeratul suggested. And her stomach agreed with it. It was getting late and she had to have breakfast before she could learn about the bases of warp space technology. Or at least what the Dark Templar deemed enough for her to know.

"Alright. But let me get dressed first." After all, she had been wearing the same uniform since yesterday.

"Hey, jailbait! Can I get to leave this time or am I gonna have to sit through again the process like the last few times?"

A gardener narrowly avoided death by a flying sword that morning, just outside one of the towers of the academy.

* * *

"So the thing Zeratul put in my mirror is connected to this pink thing and I can use Zapper to bring my mirror to my hand." Louise explained Siesta.

In a nutshell, of course. She didn't quite grasp all the technical jargon the protoss told her, but she could understand it enough to tell it to somebody else.

At least somebody with previous acknowledgement of alien technology, that is.

"Oh, that's interesting. I read something similar in the journal."

"Really? Where does it say it?" The smaller girl asked.

Right now they were talking under the same tree they met, around them were other students making the final preparations for their acts with their familiars.

Guiche was by the entrance with his mole, Verdandi, striking poses after diving in and out of the ground. Next to him was Montmorency with her frog skipping from shoulder to head and vice versa. Others were doing what people often did when training a pet, things like simple tricks and obeying orders like playing dead or giving a paw.

Then there were Kirche and Tabitha. Much to Louise's surprise the germanian was off doing her thing with her salamander, leaving her alone, and the gallian simply rode her dragon as it flew in the air doing stunts that made her stomach flip just from watching. She was sure the blue haired girl was more than used to at this point to flying at those speeds.

"I don't have it with me, Miss Valliére. I thought it would be a distraction and you need all the time you have to practice your routine." The maid apologized.

"I see. But I wouldn't worry about it, Siesta." Declared the mage with enthusiasm. "I have everything under control."

"That's good to know. I couldn't help but worry since you were acting so calm after not having to practice like everyone else." She said happily.

"Urk… I mean… Yeah, that's exactly it." She forced a laugh, "Nothing else but confidence here, Nope, nothing at all."

The maid raised picked herself off the ground, "Well, it was nice speaking to you, Miss Valliére. But my break will be over in a few minutes. I wish you luck for tonight's show!"

With that, Siesta went back to the building to finish her workload. Unaware of the embarrassed girl she left behind feeling like that only time she didn't have her homework ready a night before turning it in.

"I am going to need more than luck, Siesta." She said with fake cheer.

"Now, let's face the worst part of the plan." Louise muttered. Then she received a mental reprimand from Zeratul, who was watching over her from a distance. She would be lying if she said it didn't creep her out that he had been always there. Watching.

The pink haired girl walked to the dreaded redhead. Her smug expression as she evaluated the performance of Flame with his tricks was replaced with one of surprise as she noticed the Valliére from the corner of her eye.

"Well, well. What brings you here, little Louise?"

Swallowing her biting remarks, she asked. "The guy who made you that necklace, is he good?"

"Wow, so forward! Was the last night's lover not enough for you?" She teased.

"I'll have you known, Zerbst, that there was no one in my room aside from me. Now, before you interrupt me with another innuendo, can you tell me if the one you commissioned that necklace with the golden gem is good or not?"

Kirche 'tsked' "You take the fun out of it, you know? Yes, I go to him every so often. He knows his craft."

"Is he careful with fragile gems? Does he work fast?" Louise continued the borderline interrogation, making the other girl to take a step back.

"Yes and I don't know, respectively. Now, let me ask a question of my own."

"Tell me."

"What do you have in mind for today's show?"

"You will have to wait and see, Kirche. Thank you for the information." Louise turned and went to the stables. "Good luck tonight!"

The germanian blinked as she saw her walk away. "That's a new one."

* * *

Nightfall came sooner than everyone thought it would come. Maybe it was the pre-show jitters getting to everyone. After all, it was not every year the princess of the kingdom of Halkeginia came to see it.

The first ones to make an appearance had fairly simple numbers. One had a bunny jumping through rings, the next had a parrot saying the alphabet and so on. Not many of the attendees were exactly thrilled with this year's performance, but it was to be expected from the quite underwhelming animals that had been summoned as familiars.

Some of the students knew it, that's why they had decided to participate first before the more awe-inspiring creatures entered the fray.

Kirche's turn was very much the same of what Louise had seen during her practice earlier today. Flame was spewing small plumes of fire in different shapes at Kirche's commands, earning applauses in masse from the audience.

Tabitha's act went with practiced ease, it wasn't difficult to see how much she had bonded with Sylphid as they both soared in the air, doing loops and flips and turns much to the public's delight.

Finally, it was her turn. She was the last one. Leave the Zero at the end. She imagined every scenario where anything could go wrong. Nothing too big, just the possibility of collapsing the stage or blowing up half the place.

No pressure.

Right.

With a shaky sigh, she stepped to the stage with Zapper in tow. She saw her newest friend and her childhood friend, they were in different parts of the audience of course, but it did little to make her nerves to stop acting up and paralyzing her on stage like a scared goat.

"My name is Louise LeBalnc Francoise de la Valliére. This is my familiar, Zapper. As far as I know, it's the only one of his kind."

She reached and patted herself in the places where the pockets of her uniform were with visible confusion growing on her face. "My wand!" She exclaimed. "I forgot it!"

Several laughs came from her classmates, "Ha, the Zero forgot her wand!" "What a joke!" "Why does she even bother with this?!" They went, much to the confusion and worry of Henrietta who was watching in the front rows and Siesta who was with the rest of the servants in the rear.

Not showing her annoyance, Louise ordered. "Zapper, fetch me my wand, please." She extended her open hand to her familiar.

In each of her fingers from index to pinkie was a ring, they were barely visible from the seats. They were, until the one in her index finger began to glow when Zapper shot a jolt of lightning to it.

Shock was evident in everyone as the light in her hand became a small bubble of pink swirling energy. Small sparks coming from it caused the people in the front rows to flinch. Then, the bubble took form, a long and thin stick. Louise's wand.

In less than five seconds, her familiar materialized its master's most important possession. "Thank you, Zapper."

She turned to the audience and said, "My familiar is unique and I am still learning what he can do. Believe me when I tell you that I searched in every book in the library." At the word 'Book', Zapper warped a book from the library.

"Luckily, my dear sister Cattleya heard of something akin to them," She continued, remembering what she told Colbert to keep him from looking too much into the mysteries of her familiar. "And she sent me a letter about it."

A piece of parchment came next. The micro-beacon was barely visible against the paper.

"It was all that she knew and all I had to show tonight." She finished. The crowd began to clap in an uproar of amazement.

That was it. She managed to accomplish something great tonight. "Thank you, thank you!" She bowed.

It was just her luck her moment of triumph was cut short with an earth-shaking tremor came from behind the stage. Not too far away, a gigantic golem of rock punching away at the walls of the academy. Just outside of the vault of artifacts.


	19. Chapter 18 Fouquet, the Crumbling Dirt

**Author Notes: A year has passed. It's really crazy when I think about it, I never thought this story would have the traction it got when I first started it. After all, the first thing that made me start this story was "Hey, the name sounds cool, why hasn't anyone written something about it?"**

 **Thank you all for your support!**

 **Sorry about the little delay, my school schedule was moved due to security reasons and assignment due to a few days had to be done much earlier, but I doubt something like this can happen again.**

 **Let's see the reviews, then:**

 **NerdLord2nd: Yeah, it's hard to make her a nicer person without taking away what makes Louise herself.**

 **Kknd2: Such is the way of life.**

 **AxDevilman: He is! I try to make Louise not do everything without needing help. I don't want to unnintentionally write a Mary Sue.**

 **ChronoEntente: Well... you kinda need a Nexus to be built before warping one. However, I plan to bring an army when things start to get dicey...**

 **Poopy: I haven't taken any photos of the little one. On the other side, the units are going to be a mismatch of both sc1 and sc2, but giving some emphasis on the more "primitive" units.**

 **doom2099: Thanks, This is the right chapter for that.**

 **wolpe and buterflypuss: Thank you for your approval.**

* * *

Chapter 18. Fouquet, the Crumbling Dirt.

Glorious recognition. Applauds and cheering. A happiness she hadn't expected to feel ever since she was called the Zero. This was her time to shine, to shine like the star she deserved to be. Finally, she was sure to be selected as the best student in the whole presentation.

Yes, that would be the case of that stupid golem hadn't shown up.

"Why?!" She whined as she stamped her foot. Regardless of the panicking crowd and the trembling of the ground caused by the construct punching the walls of the academy repeatedly. "This was supposed to be my moment!"

Grunting under her breath, she ordered Zapper to follow her. She leaped off the stage and made a mad dash to the other side of the tower. The teachers were busy herding away the other students and keeping the princess as away from the commotion as possible, so it was easy for her to slip by unnoticed by the rest. Zeratul followed her closely.

What she saw once she arrived floored her. It was a gigantic agglomeration of rocks and dirt and she could even see some pieces of greenery stuck to the stones used to form the construct. The golem was busy slamming its fists to the sturdy exterior of the tower. It didn't have a head, as most mages didn't bother in putting one anyways as golems didn't need them and it was better to save some materials to make more.

On top of the headless shoulders was a lone figure donned in a cloak. The person turned to the student looking at the attacking dirt golem, making the girl steel herself and draw her wand. "Damn, the wall was sturdier than I thought. And now I have to get rid of a witness."

Louise made to run back as the giant golem reached down to grab her, she didn't have any time as she felt being hauled aside. Her familiar wasn't so lucky as it was snatched between the fingers of the construct.

"Zapper!" She exclaimed as the golem gripped the probe with force. A blue bubble enveloped the mechanical familiar as its shields strained against the magically controlled pile of rocks. Acting quickly, she pointed her wand and quickly chanted the first spell that came to her mind. "Fireball!"

A loud explosion rocked the arm of the golem and the mage on top of it, the latter trying to regain her balance. The spell was enough to release her familiar from the crushing grip. Unluckily, the magically enhanced rocks were resistant enough to ricochet most of the effect of the explosive payload of the spell to the wakened walls of the vault, making a giant hole in the brickwork.

The probe fell sharply before being caught by Zeratul, still invisible to Louise. She rushed to help her familiar to its proverbial feet, not that it needed the help as it just beeped a couple of times and Zeratul let go of it. "Zeratul, do you know a way to stop this?" She asked.

" _Hmm… It resembles the guardian statues used by Protoss of old to protect ancient relics. But it hasn't shot any thermic laser beams yet."_ He responded as he assessed the threat. _"It would be wise to retreat now that we don't know how of its capabilities."_ As soon as he finished, he shoved the girl aside once again as the golem threw a punch to the ground where she once stood, leaving a deep indentation in place.

"What is it with people trying to kill me this month?" Bemoaned the girl, cursing her current streak of confrontations. Zeratul was wise in not saying anything about her pride being a crucial factor in some of those instances. Could she have done everything up to today in any other way? He wasn't sure, he didn't know Louise all that well, but it was clear to him that she was trying her best not to stagnate in her shortcomings at every turn.

Regaining her footing, she looked at the golem to try to cast another spell at it, only to find out that she had dropped her wand. "Where's my wand? I need it!" The probe heard her plight and activated the receiver attached to the ring in her index finger. The lost item was quick to appear in her grasp.

"Thank you, Zapper." She patted her familiar on the head before launching another fireball spell. This time, her aim was off, and it singed the shoulder of the golem. "Wait, where is she?"

" _There, the hole."_ From the hole that Louise had opened with her first explosion, the robed mage emerged clutching a heavy looking box with both arms. She climbed up the arm of her golem and turned to Louise.

"I suppose I have to thank you, little girl." The grin of the thief was barely visible from under the cloak and she could also make out the long, forest green hair of the golem summoner. Before Louise could give chase to the intruder, the golem turned and left with long, lumbering strides.

" _I will track her down and find where she is going. Stay here, Young Louise."_ The Dark Templar was about to begin to follow the giant of rocks, but he was stopped when the girl told him so.

"Wait, we need to know what she took. If she has something from the Vault, then we must be careful."

"Louise! Louise! Are you alright?" The girl being called out turned to see her childhood friend running to embrace her in worry. "Are you hurt? Did you see who did this? Who were you talking to?"

She was slow to catch up with the barrage of questions, "Ah… Yes, I'm fine, Your Highness." The look from Henrietta made her correct herself, "I mean, Henrietta. And yes, I saw the thief."

"It's good to see you're ok. But you still hadn't told me who were you talking to." The princess' eyes fell on the mechanical being. "Was it to this little guy here?"

"Um… Yes!" Louise went with it. She found it easier to let her friend run her imagination wild, but not too wild. She didn't need another imaginary lover another person came up with.

The princess wanted to keep fussing about her best friend, but she kept herself from being overbearing. "We need to go back and tell the headmaster what you saw." Louise nodded and followed her friend back into the academy grounds, where she would relay her attempt at stopping the thief.

* * *

"The Staff of Destruction has been stolen." Announced the Headmaster Osmond, earning a gasp from the other professors. Louise was there, and so were Tabitha and Kirche for reasons she didn't know, they listened the older mages trying to figure out how the thief had sneaked in, made a gigantic golem and punched a wall into the Vault without anyone noticing up to the last moment.

After listening to Louise's testimony on the event and searching for any lost items, Osmond found that a powerful artifact he had been guarding was missing. He had asked his assistant, Miss Longueville to make a portrait of the thief.

"Thanks to Miss Longueville we now know that the thief was non other than Fouquet, the Crumbling Dirt. I was careless to think that our artifacts would be safe during today's show." He showed the drawing to everyone in the room. "Are you sure this is how she looked? Most people thought Fouquet was a man."

"I am sure of what I saw, Headmaster." She replied simply.

"It is a shame Princess Henrietta left already. This information could be crucial in her report to the palace."

Louise sighed as she recalled her friend saying that she had to leave as soon as possible, at least she told her what Fouquet looked like. The little girl was sort of irked with the outcome of her encounter with the thief, her accidental aid to the burglary made her feel even more responsible of this outcome.

"…If there is someone who wishes to begin the search for the whereabouts of Fouquet, you may raise your wands now." Osmond finished, his earlier words blotted by the girl's inner thoughts. No one dared to meet the eyes of the old wizard, either muttering excuses or simply thinking they weren't enough to deal with a criminal of great renown.

A small hand was raised, "Headmaster, I volunteer for this task. It was me who let Fouquet flee so I have the responsibility of getting back the staff of destruction and catch the thief." In her mind, she could already hear the Dark Templar questioning her constant proving of her self-worth and sense of responsibility.

"Is that so, Miss Valliére?" Osmond asked. "While I commend responsibility to our titles as nobles, I will have to ask you to not follow through with this endeavor alone. Your deficiency at casting spells is no secret here and I cannot allow you to look for a powerful criminal in good conscious."

"I volunteer to watch over her, Headmaster." Chimed in the secretary. "I have been scouting the woods in recent days ever since we caught wind of Fouquet's spike of activity. There is a small cottage hidden near the academy. If that thief is still around, I would suggest looking there."

"Well, if the Valliére is going, then I'm not letting her have all the glory." Interjected Kirche, raising her wand.

"I will go too." Said Tabitha, following suit.

The old man stroked his beard, humming. "I feel relieved seeing my students having each other's backs. Miss Longueville is a very capable woman and I trust her deeply, Miss Von Zerbst is a very promising student with her fire-based spells and Tabitha is also a prodigy in her own right."

Louise silently fumed at the praise of the other people who didn't even dare to volunteer before she decided to offer her help. _"Young Louise, please calm your temper. Recognition is never a good reason for fair deeds."_

"Let's go, if we stand around and keep talking, Fouquet is going to go away." Louise said.

"I will get a carriage to help us get there, I know the way." Said Miss Longueville as she led the girls out of the room.

* * *

The road to the old cottage was a short one with the aid of the carriage. The only adult was on the reins as the students were sitting inside the vehicle. Kirche was trying to initiate a conversation with the other two, but Tabitha was busy reading a book and Louise was looking, more like glaring, out of the window as she kept Zapper on her lap, petting it absentmindedly.

"I don't see why you insisted on bringing your familiar, Louise." Pointed out the germanian.

"Let her." The girl with glasses said, flipping another page.

"But why, though? I couldn't bring Flame here with us." Pouted Kirche.

"You didn't ask to."

"Hmp... Shut up, Tabby."

The bickering went on for a few more minutes, Louise didn't bother to listen to it for any longer. "Zeratul told us to be careful, do you think we'll make it?"

"Aw, don't worry about us, Louise, we'll be fine." The redhead said aloof, "We will get there, retrieve the staff of destruction and be back in the academy in a flash."

The carriage stopped a few minutes later and the girls got out of the horse-drawn cart. "I will go first, wait here." Said Miss Longueville as she approached the small wooden building. It looked like it had been there for a long time, with moss growing in the woodwork and the rusty pieces of metal were barely holding on to the frame of the door and the windows.

As they waited for the secretary to come out, Zeratul appeared next to the girls. _"I don't sense any other mental signatures from there. Your teacher is going to be safe, as long as there are no traps."_

"Miss Longueville is not our teacher, she isn't a mage." Said Louise bluntly. "But she has been the headmaster's assistant for a long time, or so I was told."

"Yeah, I hear she was responsible for the new books in the library. Normally it takes years for them to arrive, older students told me they were using the same ones their parents used when they studied here." Said Kirche.

"Bureaucracy is slow."

" _Stay here."_ The protoss made himself invisible and went in the cottage, there was no one there. The place was dark, not that he minded. His eyes were used to the darkness of the days of Shakuras. Tucked away in a corner was a bundle of cloth, a thing most people would miss if they weren't looking specifically for it.

The sound of hurried footsteps caught his attention as he turned to see the three girls and a probe entering the small building. "Hello? Miss Longueville, are you there?" One called out.

"It's dark in here, mind if I turn on a candle or something?"

"Yes, please."

A small ember flickered into existence and the faces of Kirche, Tabitha and Louise were visible to the Dark Templar as they made their way into the dilapidated remains of the abandoned hideout. "Weird." Commented Tabitha

"What is weird?" Asked Louise.

" _The interior seems clean. Despite the outer appearance."_ Answered Zeratul. It was true, of the things he saw here, there was little to no dust floating around and the few pieces of furniture that remained here seemed to be used recently. _"I think I found your staff of destruction."_

The Dark Templar grabbed the bundle of cloth in one hand and put it on a small round table nearby. He pulled the cloth apart and discovered a black box held shut by a small lock.

"Is this it?" Kirche tilted her head, "Man, this was easier than I thought."

"Yeah, we better tell Miss Longueville we found it… Wait, where is she? She isn't here." Observed Louise.

"Suspicious." Added Tabitha.

"If she's not here, and she hasn't come out, then where is she?" Asked the redhead. The other girls were confused. After all, how could a magicless person disappear just like that?

A tremor rocked the foundations of the already brittle construction, making the girls to look around in confusion. "What was that?"

" _It's a trap!"_ Zeratul dashed and got out of the cottage, what he saw didn't surprise him all too much.

A golem, similar to the one earlier today, was rising from the ground with a robed figure standing on top of the rising mound of dirt. The summon was significantly smaller than the one he saw last time, maybe the incantation time was a factor in the formation of these things.

The girls were the next after seeing the golem being formed outside. Kirche, Tabitha and Louise were ready to start casting spells. Zapper was behind them carrying the black box where the Staff of Destruction resided in.

"Fireball!" Cried out the germanian, sending a fiery blast to the center of the body of the giant, only to be surprised when she found only a soot mark and no visible damage to the integrity of the golem.

With her staff, the gallian sent a flurry of ice shards and met the same results as her friend. Her annoyance was just marked by a narrowing of her eyes, unlike the redhead who was more vocal with the ineffective spells.

Louise, despite seeing her companion's spells do nothing, she still sent an explosive fluke of a fireball and was surprised when she saw a small crater was formed in the right side of the golem. However, even if she had done significant damage, the hole was filled once again with dirt and rocks at the command of Fouquet.

The thief smirked, "Surrender and give me the Staff of Destruction!" She commanded the golem to hurl another chunk of stones to the girls. "Your efforts are useless!"

Said chunk crashed near the probe carrying the artifact, damaging its shields and making it drop the box it carried. The impact broke the small lock that kept the box shut. Louise went over her familiar alongside Zeratul. _"The probe seems fine."_ He commented.

"Hey, the box's open!" Louise pointed out, making sure Fouquet was distracted by the other two students, she opened the box and pulled out an item Zeratul was vaguely familiar with.

" _A marauder's arm-mounted grenade launcher?"_ He was familiar with these weapons, used more openly during recent years by the hulking armored marauders to shoot concussive grenades often deployed to deal with enemies clad in heavy armor and crowd control.

"A what now?" Louise asked, "Is this something your people used?"

" _No, this is of terran origin. But this gives me an idea."_ He hauled the heavy weapon and told the girl. _"Hoist this over your shoulder, the firing mechanism must be under the frame of the launcher."_

Despite being invented hundreds of years after normal grenade and rocket launchers, terran weapons fell under similar principles. _"Now point the end at the golem."_ After all, terrans were creatures that liked things going boom when following a simple array of instructions.

Reaching under the cannon, he found the trigger and guided the human's hand to it. "Now what do I do?" She asked.

" _Now press it, quick!"_ A strong pull of the trigger fired a gray slug covered in fiery blue to the golem. The projectile was faster than she could ever think and found its way to the innards of the magical construct that was too distracted with the other two girls to react.

The thief fell as the ground under her feet collapsed and her only means of attack, her wand, slipped from her grasp when the concussive blast destroyed her golem easily. The deafening boom of the explosion resulting from the payload of the projectile left her dazed when she tried to get up. Kirche didn't waste a second in tackling the woman down when she was stumbling on her feet.

Both Louise and Tabitha stared at the germanian after that stunt, the former dumbfounded and the latter bemused. "What? You think of me as a barbarian, so I roll with it." Kirche shrugged, then she looked down at Fouquet, "Holy crap, Fouquet is Longueville!"

"That's why she was missing, she's an earth mage so she dug a tunnel to exit the cottage before we knew it." Louise rationalized. "It's a good thing we managed to get the Staff of Destruction to deal with her golem."

"Indeed. Let's head back." Supplied Tabitha, not keeping her eyes off the artifact and its effects. "I'll drive the carriage."

After knocking out the headmaster's assistant with a simple command, Zeratul carried the unconscious woman to the vehicle, ready to go back to the academy. In the way back, more questions kept popping up in his head. 'How many things have leaked into this world? What was making these things to come here? Was he the last thing to cross dimensions to this place or was something else coming?' Such things had to wait until after he found out more sources he could use to investigate.


	20. Chapter 19 Tales

**Author notes: Hey, here's the chapter. I've been feeling a bit under the weather and today the light went out... I don't know where I am going with this, but I think I will have another chapter ready by friday-ish I think. I'm not doing too much lately so I figure I can pump another piece.**

 **Also, something special at the end.**

 **Let's see the reviews, shall we?**

 **doom2099: I don't have a good answer to that. I purposefully didn't want him to discover who Fouquet was because it would ruin what was supposed to happen last chapter.**

 **Poopy: I'm thinking of all of the sc1 units that could replace the sc2 ones with more primitive versions while leaving irreplaceable units alone. Like Shuttles instead of Warp Prisms, Reavers instead of Disruptors or the 'oh so coordinated' Dragoons instead of Stalkers.**

 **AxDevilman: You just wait...**

 **ChronoEntente: I don't know for sure if it was addressed in the games or in other media, but I'm very sure they build the stuff in the planet/moon/mothership they're in and then have them in 'storage' for future warp ins.**

 **buterflypuss: Thanks, bud.**

* * *

Chapter 19. Tales.

"I cannot believe Fouquet was operating right under my nose all along." Lamented Osmond as the three girls finished explaining why they came back with an unconscious Miss Longueville in tow as they handed the Staff of destruction to the bewildered Headmaster. They had sent a messenger to the palace to call off the search for the thief and to request to have Fouquet be brought properly to justice.

The four humans were in the Vault to bring the stolen artifact back to its rightful place, passing alongside the many invaluable pieces and gadgets born of magical might and historical importance. Louise was told to have her familiar outside of the high security room because of its recently known knack for getting close to new things and trying to grab it in its strange cone of light. So Zeratul had the probe to check the room where the green haired thief was being temporarily held and send a signal to him if anything happened while he did a closer look at the Koprulu Sector-made items he found among the things which were from this world.

The old man stroked his beard in thought. "Ahh, my loyal assistant. How could she do that to me? All I've ever done was tell her to wear a color other than white…" He wistfully said.

"Um… Headmaster, I hadn't seen Miss Longueville wearing white ever since we started classes." Commented Kirche.

"Not where it counts…" Muttered Osmond. "But nevermind that, what matters is that the Staff of Destruction is back and you managed to wield its power. I thought I'd never see someone with enough magical aptitude to conjure a spell with this complex focus again."

Louise decided to interject. "I'm sorry to say this, Headmaster. But I don't think it was because of my magical aptitude."

"Oh? I think we all are informed of your magical mishaps, but your scores in your theorical classes have shown to be one of the best, tied with Miss Tabitha here." The wizard mused, "I admit, in all the years Colbert and I spent searching for a way to cast a spell with it, we never managed to make it work like any traditional staff."

Louise had to blink at that. Neither the greatest wizard and the most enthusiastic scholar in the building were able to find and pull a small lever thingy under the body of the artifact.

Regardless, even if she didn't know about it until Zeratul told her so, it was incredibly obvious in hindsight. In recent years she had heard rumors of the workings of the new weapons the musketeers, who were tasked with protecting the royal family, and she could see the resemblance in the function of the trigger in both the Staff of Destruction and the muskets.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you find the Staff of Destruction?" Asked Louise. Her companions nodded as they wanted to know the origins of such a powerful item.

"Hm… Very well. After all, you girls have made a great service to this academy and most surely you want to know of my adventures as a youngster myself." Choosing to ignore the latter comment, they nodded.

"Back a few decades ago, when I was in my prime, I was attacked by a fearsome dragon. It was a terrifying beast with scales so resistant my spells were rendered useless." He looked back at the recovered sitting on its pedestal. "Then, when I thought everything was lost and the dragon was ready to eat me whole, the loudest explosion that I had ever heard in my life blew the side of the gargantuan lizard-"

Kirche snickered and whispered to Tabitha, "The loudest until we enrolled here…"

"-and then I saw him. A man covered from head to toe in heavy plates of black iron. The armor made him a good two feet taller than the tallest man alive and bulkier than the strongest soldier any army had to offer. Despite this, he had no problem moving to keep casting explosion after explosion at the dragon." The old man's eyes seemed to glint with respect for the memory of his rescuer. "The armor itself was too remarkably durable, able to withstand the flames from the dragon more than once and his spells were strong enough to turn the head of the beast to a pulp after a few castings."

The girls were enraptured by the tale, the blue haired gallian was significantly more interested in his story than what she usually did for her everyday -one sided- conversations with Kirche as her hand fidgeted with the urge to write it all down for future references.

The invisible intruder was busy looking over an old container he had seen in his previous visit, yet he still heard the anecdote of the long-bearded human about being saved by a marauding Marauder from a winged lizard. His curiosity was taken from the discussion as he searched for anything confirming the contents of the vessel to be the same he was thinking of. Not many things had the same 'smell' the sacred substance seemed to have, not that protoss had any olfactory receptors per se, but it triggered an interesting effect on the most psionically perceptive of Templars of any faction of their species.

" _Breath of Creation…"_ Or as terrans knew it, Terrazine. Not very imaginative, but names weren't as important of a concern as did getting the materials themselves to make their species strong enough to survive the strife of being stuck between a super advanced alien race and an all-consuming alien race.

"Once the dragon fell dead, I rushed to see if the armored man was alright. He spoke in a strange language with a deep voice and I couldn't understand him, but I understood the grave wounds on him. Given his performance during his fight, I guessed he was already wounded before he came to my aid since his armor was starting to break apart."

"But where does the Staff of Destruction comes in?" Asked Kirche.

"That is a good question, in fact, there wasn't a Staff of Destruction." He started, earning confused looks from the students. "There were two of them."

"What?!" Two of the three exclaimed. The pink haired girl decided to press for information. "Then how did he…" She recalled something Zeratul muttered when he showed her how to operate the weapon.

"Ah, yes. His staves were attached to his armor. A strange design, if I say so myself, but a sound one if it meant he wouldn't lose them during the heat of battle. In the end, one of the staves fell off, the man who saved me died from his wounds and I had to bury him with the rest of his equipment, with an obvious exception." He gestured to the artifact behind him.

The girls heard the headmaster finish his story with one question in mind. "Where did that man came from?" Asked, surprisingly, Tabitha.

"I do not know. His language was something I still struggle to find records of in the continent. However, I cannot discard the possibility of him being from Rub'Al Kali or, Founder forbid it, from the Elven Lands." The old man shook his head at his own answer. "But there's one thing I am sure of."

That man reeked an aura of magic proper from an errant leyline." He finished.

"Like a summoning spell…" The headmaster perked up at that.

"Oh, you have something in mind, Miss Valliére?"

"Where was the encounter with the dragon, Headmaster?" She inquired.

"If I remember well, it was at the outskirts of an old town near the borders of Halkeginia. But I'm afraid that town was destroyed a little more than twenty years ago. The reasons behind it are still unclear to this day."

"Do you remember the name of the town?" This time asked Kirche, choosing to entertain the thought of her soon-to-be friend.

"Hm… Ah, I remember now," The old wizard snapped his fingers. "The town was D'Angleterre!" Then he frowned, "But why do you wish to know?"

"Nothing, I was just curious about it." She dismissed her line of thought. "Thank you for the story, headmaster."

"No, no. It is the academy that should thank you girls. You make this old man feel proud of his very well formed students." That was an odd way to say congratulations, but the three of them accepted his words nonetheless. "Now, I suppose a reward is in order."

Kirche and Louise's eyes shot open at that. "Really?" asked the taller girl. Tabitha was nonplussed at this, but she appreciated the thought.

"You three are exempt from the next theorical exam and whatever assignments leading up to it." He announced with a smile that made the three feel sorry about the fact that the next exam was tomorrow in the morning. But they said nothing about it.

"Um… Thanks." Said Louise, unsure of what to say of this outcome.

" _I have a better proposition."_ Zeratul talked in her head. _"Ask for the tank on your right. I wish to study it further."_

"Headmaster, if you don't mind me asking, what is in that container?" She pointed at the strangest storage device she had ever laid eyes on. It was a boxy thing, unlike the case where the Staff of Destruction was being stored in. A bit more complex in its design, but not to the point of protoss engineering, just a very primitive, yet advanced barrel of some kind if she had to describe it.

The headmaster followed her hand and saw what she was referring to, He spoke of it in a wizened tone, "Colbert had been obsessing over it for some time, but he gave up a few years ago. No spell can unlock the case without damaging it and we won't potentially harm whatever relics may lie inside of it. We call it, the Vessel of Holding."

"Ominous." Commented Tabitha.

"It may be the case, but we can't be sure of the contents of it. It's heavy, but it doesn't rattle with gold or any fragile things and it the weight shuffles when we move it. But who would fill a case with water?" Mused Osmond. "Perhaps you can put to good use your theorical knowledge, you are smart girls and given the current circumstances, I trust you could find a way to open the Vessel of Holding."

"Then give it to us, I'm sure one of us can figure out what it has inside." Asked Louise with a knowing smile, though the headmaster misinterpreted her as if she was talking about her current companions.

"I don't see the harm of it. I will have a servant haul it to one of your rooms tomorrow in the morning." Proposed Osmond.

Zeratul couldn't believe the aloofness of the old man as he practically gifted an item he had little knowledge of to a group of infant humans. It suddenly made sense to him that Fouquet had hidden for so long under the guise of his secretary.

But he wouldn't question his stroke of good luck Tomorrow would be another day of learning.

* * *

 **Omake.**

Char Aleph. Month ?. Earth Year 2502 A.D.

"You did well, my servant." Complimented a female voice. It was a warped sound, buzzing could be heard in the background of it. A testament of the many followers behind the owner of every single one of their disposable lives.

" _My Queen. The last of the Terran forces are retreating. Shall I give pursuit?"_ Asked a… something. Sitting in the middle of the Char Aleph space station, among the mass of purple mycelian floor, chittering and roaring beasts and fleshy structures was a mound of pulsating meat surrounded by a bony exterior. The sack of flesh was translucent to a degree, most of its color was pus-yellow with hints of something swimming in the middle of it. The heart and brain of the swarm ripping tearing the abandoned manmade and protoss structures.

A Cerebrate.

Cerebrates were created and used by the Overmind to oversee and command the Zerg. All of them had been killed in the most recent war. All of them except this one. This particular Cerebrate was the youngest and the last to be birthed, evidenced by its lack of name, and was tasked with the most important role of them all. To protect the spawn of a chrysalid. To protect his Queen.

To serve and obey her for the rest of his life.

"Do not engage, Cerebrate." The Queen of Blades ordered.

" _What are your orders, my Queen."_ Asked the Cerebrate. _"With their weakened numbers and 'morale' there are little probabilities of retaliation. It is suggested to use this moment to regain control over Char while there is no one to challenge your rule."_ It stated impersonally.

"Yes, but I'm sorry to say you're wrong." She started. Hearing no response from her servant, she continued. "You are still alive, and while it was true that I was sure of your success in stopping their combined attack, I was expecting you to perish with them. But perhaps I underestimated you."

" _Why would you say that, my Queen?"_ The mass of flesh wondered, _"Have I not served you well ever since your birth as the daughter of the Overmind?"_

It could hear the mocking laugh of the deranged female. "You have done far better than my expectations, I admit that. But I consider your strategies and problem-solving capabilities to be troublesome in the long run. I'm afraid you will have to consider yourself terminated."

A strange feeling was ebbing up inside of the Cerebrate's conscious. It was a cold grip in its core and the trembling of its gelatinous body was made more apparent by the second as several zerg creatures turned on him. Fear, it believed it was called.

"Don't be surprised. After all, that is all we have been doing these past months. Betraying." Continued the Queen of Blades.

"But I am a merciful Queen to those who proved their worth. You have a thirty second advantage. Don't waste it." She finished.

The Cerebrate didn't waste a fraction of a second in creating an escape route. Transferring his conscious to a flying queen above itself, it fled. Never to be seen again.


	21. Chapter 20 Research and Learning

**Author Notes: So, here's a new one: two chapters in less than a week and BEFORE midnight. I think, time zones are iffy.**

 **I appretiate you guys reading this story and giving me reviews so I can keep improving and see where I missed some opportunities so it would be less likely to happen again.**

 **Let's see those reviews, shall we?**

 **poopy: I love carbot, I personally try to imagine Zapper like it was drawn by him just to make it easier for me to figure out its behavior around Derflinger.**

 **Arachnodon: Yep, but it will be wayyyy later.**

 **Arashi Tenebris: 1° I meant "his" since it was the salamander doing the trick, not Kirche. (Unless Flame is a girl and I just found out now ._.)**

 **2° It's the bare cannon that was hailed as the Staff of Destruction", no conections to any piece of armor or the like. Also, Zeratul helped her use the cannon, helping her too to pull the trigger. Also, also, I didn't want to end the whole golem debacle just like that, I thought it would feel cheap. Like cannon rushing.**

 **3° Zeratul participated from starcraft 1 up to the beginning of sc2 legacy of the void, yes. But the thing with the Cerebrate happened right after the last mission of broodwar (not that I know what actually happened to it in canon) and I think that I had established in that getting isekai'd can happen from and to any point in time (Like Siesta's grandpa being from after the End war with Amon)**

 **Hope I cleared all of that up.**

 **Doom King of Latveria (former doom2099): That's some bad luck you got there. Yeah, crossdimensional travel is something I am both terrified and excited to talk about.**

 **captaindickscratcher: You, captain. You beautiful son of a gun. I hadn't much in mind for the dragon, as it was what Osmond actually said when he spoke about the staff of destruction, but you gave me a great idea.**

 **ChronoEntente: I dunno, is it?**

 **AxDevilman and buterflypuss: Thanks, guys.**

* * *

Chapter 20. Research and Learning.

The morning began without too many affairs: Wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, talk to Siesta and go to class. As Louise was about to enter the classroom, a hand fell on her shoulder and stopped her.

"Hey, we have nothing to do today, did you forget?" Said Kirche. Behind her, Tabitha was absentmindedly reading a book and gave a small grunt as she turned a page. "Don't mind her, she's bummed about having to miss a test."

"Oh, right." She remembered the generous reward of the headmaster for capturing Fouquet, at least one part of it. "Hey, do you know if the headmaster sent us already the Vessel of Holding?"

"Nope, nothing yet." Answered one as the other simply shook her head. "Why did you ask for that thing anyway?"

"Zeratul told me to. I wasn't expecting Old Osmond to give it away like he did."

"Careless." Mentioned the quiet girl.

" _Indeed."_ Came Zeratul's voice from their heads. _"I have already retrieved the package as soon as it arrived."_ He clarified.

"Oh good. I was worried of the Headmaster forgetting his promise." Said Louise. She crossed her arms and then asked. "Then where is it?"

" _I hid it in the stables. Come there immediately, bring Gifted Siesta and if you can, a small empty bottle."_ He answered.

"So… can we go too?" Asked the germanian, making the pink haired girl sigh. "Please, we have nothing else to do, right Tabs?" The reading girl shook her head. "See? She's bored too."

Louise pinched the bridge of her nose, "Fine, let me fetch Siesta and meet me at the stables." She started to walk away, "In the meantime, ask Zeratul to fill you in with what he is and what is going on. I don't want to hear you interrupting us every five seconds."

She made her way to the kitchens with the intention of finding Marteau and ask him Siesta's whereabouts. On her way there, she saw the servants she walked by stop whatever they were doing to bow and greet her. She did her best to respond with a polite wave of the hand and a smile, but she couldn't help but feel a little put off by the constant attention.

The kitchen staff was busy preparing lunch. The heavy aroma of herbs and spices assaulted her nose as they were cut, ground and mixed with meats, vegetables and broths. The heat from the stoves and ovens was quick to make her start to sweat and the clinking and clanking of pans and pots rattled her eardrums. But despite her overwhelmed senses, she searched for the imposing figure of the chief chef Marteau ordering the other cooks around while he was busy chopping mountains of onions without shedding a tear.

"Check the pork stew! Add more potatoes if you find it too salty." He turned to the other side, "Have you started crushing the garlic for tomorrow's marinade?!" His hands never letting go of the knife as he kept reducing wholes into pieces onion after onion.

"Chef Marteau, do you have a second?" Louise asked politely. The portly man tore his gaze from the cooking staff and looked at the girl standing at a safe distance from the ingredients and the people going back and forth.

"Oh, Mistress Valliére. There's always time for you." He answered. "What is it you need?"

Seeing the busy state of the kitchen, she decided to keep her question short. "Do you know where Siesta is?"

"Right now, she should be cleaning the dorms in the north tower, second floor, I believe."

"Thank you, Chef Marteau. Goodbye." She heard the man say his own goodbye as she turned to leave the place. Then she stopped, "Oh, before I go, do you happen to have an empty bottle somewhere?"

"Katherine, hand the lady a clean bottle from the shelf in the right!" He ordered, then a maid who was cleaning the dishes fetched the item for her. She thanked the two of them and left.

It took her a few seconds to orient herself and remember which the way to the north tower was. It wasn't too difficult to do so, as the kitchen was placed inside the main building in the center of the walls. If she recalled right, it was the Tower of Fire.

A short walk later she found herself climbing up the staircase to the second floor, earning a few estranged looks from older students as she passed by. Second year students shouldn't be here at the moment, maybe if they had something to do in collaboration to third grade ones or they wanted to talk to a specific professor, but right now they were supposed to be taking classes in another part of the academy.

"The sooner I find Siesta, the better." She mumbled. "I shudder to think what Zeratul is going through with those two." Mainly Kirche, as far as she knew Tabitha she would sit there and listen to the redhead pestering Zeratul nonstop with questions about how they reproduce or something completely as equally unnecessary to know.

She nearly bumped into a door that swung open right in front of her. Behind it, was the girl she was looking for as she pulled a trolley with baskets for dirty and clean bedsheets and pillowcases.

"Oh, Miss Valliére. What a surprise to see you here." She greeted as she pushed the trolley to the end of the hallway, where a hatch was embedded in the wall. Louise saw the maid search in a pocket in her uniform and pull out a key, then open the hatch and tug on a rope that was inside the wall. "What brings you here, if you don't mind me asking."

"Zeratul told me he wanted to see us, it has to do with something we got from the Vault." Said Louise as Siesta tied the basket full of dirty cloths to the rope and carefully sent it down the chute with the help of what she assumed was a pulley. "Maybe we can finally start his training."

"That sounds wonderful!" She said, as she felt a tug on the rope she tied the next basket and proceeded to sent it down too. "I was getting worried his promise was a hollow one. Recently I've been feeling headaches and it's hard to keep a smile when all the students keep acting so stuck up and uncaring with a pounding head." Finishing with the rest of the baskets, she closed the hatch and turned to her friend. "I have nothing else to do for the day, anyway. My workload has been drastically reduced ever since I came back."

Louise frowned at that. "Wouldn't that affect your pay?"

"I asked the headmaster the same thing, but he reassured me that I was going to get paid the same as before as an apology for sending me off with that pig Mott." She shivered at the thought.

"Then let's not waste any more time. Follow me, we're going to the stables."

* * *

"Ok… That was overly complicated." Blinked Kirche, "So… No physical contact?"

Zeratul was practicing the patience of a saint as he responded once again to the same question elaborated by the human. _"No."_

They were sitting outside of the stables. The servants working there were busy taking out the familiars to have some exercise and to keep familiarizing with the schoolgrounds and each others. For that, the normal animals weren't allowed to go out as long as the magical creatures were outside.

"So, can you tell us now what is the Vessel of Holding?" Asked the redhead. Leaning to see the artifact she and Tabitha were sitting on, the protoss told them it was safe to sit there despite common knowledge of the handling of magical items telling them not to.

"Wait for Louise and Siesta." Answered the blue haired girl as she kept reading her book. "He won't have to explain twice."

She would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in what the outsider had in store in terms of raw knowledge. These protoss sounded like they were experts using their minds and had honed the sciences of biology and gene therapy down to what she could describe as an art. She had to keep herself from sounding too desperate when she asked him about the treatments of the mind and she didn't want to keep her hopes up unnecessarily.

"Hey, we're here." Came the voice of Louise. Alongside her was Siesta, still in her uniform, who waved with a small smile on her face. "Now, Zeratul, what did you want to tell us?"

The Dark Templar made himself visible and showed his unpowered scythe. _"What I am about to tell you is important for Gifted Siesta's and Young Louise's lessons."_

"So what are we, chopped liver?" Asked Kirche. Despite the glare from Louise, she pressed on, "I want to hear what this is all about."

Ignoring the redhead, he continued. _"Protoss are naturally sensitive to psionic power. It was gifted to us by the Xel'Naga so we could use it, study it, perfect it."_ He powered up the warp blade. _"Terrans, however, had to evolve through thousands of years in order to have an inkling of that power. They seized whatever means they had to help them make the process faster."_ He pulled something from within his tattered cloak. _"Using materials such as these."_

"Hey, that's my necklace!" Shouted the germanian as she tried to snatch her golden necklace back from Zeratul, only for Tabitha to hold her back with her staff. "I've been looking for that last night!"

"Calm down."

The protoss proceeded to point at the glowing crystal functioning as a centerpiece of the ornament. _"This is a jorium crystal. Used to nullify the hallucinogenic effects of terrazine, a substance used to awaken and strengthen psionics on terrans."_

"Just that? That doesn't sound too complicated." Commented Louise, "But Siesta's psionic power has just awakened, I don't see why we need that terra-something thing."

" _While it is true that Gifted Siesta has just started to develop her psionic powers, we have to stabilize it to a manageable level so I can start her training. It would be of no use if her psionic development stopped as soon as it awakened, that is if she wanted to give it a use other than pushing a few chairs around."_ Maybe it sounded selfish, but he recognized potential when he saw it. The girl was also eager to find out what she was able to do and learn what she could from her grandfather's universe. _"However, I need a bigger cache of jorium for that to happen. Ardent Kirche, is there a way to procure more crystals?"_

Kirche shrugged, "That depends, how much do you need?"

" _I will need an approximate of ten times the amount you used in the necklace."_

"That doesn't sound like much." She pondered, as it was not a big quantity for a person of her status. "Consider it done."

Siesta then asked, "So where do we find terrazine?" She wasn't exactly eager to be under the influence of some hallucinogenic substance, if her understanding of the word was the same as her parents taught her when she was younger. She was warned no to pick up any mushrooms or bugs with bright colors or she wasn't told to when they let her out to play with the other kids back in her village.

Zeratul pointed beneath Kirche and Tabitha, _"They are currently sitting on it."_ The redhead eeped and jumped off the Vessel of Holding like it was the plague as Tabitha simply stood up calmly.

"What the hell! You told us it was safe to sit there." Explained the hotheaded one. Her friend shrugged.

" _It is and will be unless it is opened without any security measures put into play."_ He knelt down to check the ends of the Vessel of Holding, in one of them, he found a small circular indentation. _"Did you bring the bottle?"_ He asked at Louise. The girl nodded and gave him the item.

"What are you doing?" The mage asked, leaning over to see what the protoss was so fixated about.

" _I'm comparing the size of the exit of the gas container and the bottle neck. I will need some materials to make possible the draining of terrazine. Even then, I will need a way to expose her in a controlled environment."_ He was sure he could find more things he could work with inside of the Vault, if his most recent observation was correct, there were more pieces of terran technology that could serve as a precious source of pieces and tools. _"This one is too big."_

"So… about the lessons…" Started Siesta.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think you don't know how to teach us about Void magic." Piped in Louise.

Zeratul rose up to his full height and said, _"I never said I was an expert in magic. I am a Dark Templar, master wielder of Void energies and psionics."_ He retrieved his warp scythe and collapsed it, storing it away. _"Translating these principles will not be an easy task, but you will not be disappointed with my teachings. Let us begin then."_

"Is it really ok if we stay?" Asked Kirche, earning a nod from the protoss.

" _There should not be any complications. Now, as I understand, the power behind magical spells lies in the willpower of a mage, given shape by an incantation and channeled with a focus, a wand or a staff."_

"Yes, we knew that already. Why are you saying that again?"

Ignoring the retort from Louise, he continued. _"For terrans, the process of using a psionic skill is similar to the casting of spells. They both require a source of power, a given purpose and an amplifier."_ Using a branch, he drew a triangle. He pointed at one side, _"The mind,"_ then another, _"An unspoken incantation"_ and then the final corner, _"And neuroimplants."_ The humans were confused at the term, sensing their confusion, he clarified. _"Terrans are fond to inserting small machines in their brains to further amplify signals made by their minds."_

"Ew, that's so… wrong." The humans shuddered in disgust at the prospect of having something inserted inside their heads just to circumvent the use a wand. Specially Siesta, "I-I'm not going to have that done to me, right?... Right?"

" _I would not dwell on it, Gifted Siesta. I am not as knowledgeable enough to dabble with a human's internal organs."_ Seeing the discomfort on her face not dwindling, he said. _"Which is why I am going to ask you to get a wand yourself. If it doesn't work, I will search for a way to help you start using psionic skills."_

The Dark Templar made some distance from the Vessel of Holding and gestured them to sit down. "You seem to be very familiar with terrazine. Have you used it before?" Asked Kirche as she and the others made themselves comfortable.

He shook his head. _"Terrazine was originally used by the protoss, harvested from natural geysers in some planets located in the Koprulu Sector. The most talented seers and oracles consumed it in ceremonies to see the future and make prophecies."_ He explained. _"We called it Breath of Creation."_

"So…" Started the redhead, "Your people got high on weird fumes and the others rolled with it?" She snickered as she was ignored by the others.

" _Now that you know the basic comparison of psionics and magic, I will have to ask you, Gifted Siesta. Are you ready to begin?"_

"Yes, I want to learn." She answered.

"What about me? I'm still in the dark about how to use Void magic." Louise said.

" _Given my observations of your current capabilities, you seem to have a great pool of willpower in order to keep casting spells as powerful as yours in fast repetition."_ The girl tried her best not to be offended at her own performance. _"Your wand seems to work correctly as well. But the incantation appears to be the problem."_

"But my incantations are correct. I practiced them everyday since I was a child."

"Wrong purpose." Spoke up Tabitha. "Right words, wrong spell."

" _Little Tabitha is right."_ Zeratul said to the bristling pink haired girl. _"You said yourself that Void magic was unattainable for thousands of years, the knowledge of the words required to do the spells must be long forgotten. If they were ever recorded, there might be a possibility of finding the original spells used by your deity."_

"He's right, there are four sacred items left by Brimir that were once under the possession of the Church." Said Kirche, "One of them is his own spellbook, but I don't quite remember where it is."

" _That information might result useful in the future. But right now, Young Louise should start clearing building mental fortitude. While anger is helpful channeling power and purpose in the faction of the Tal'Darim, the teachings of the Nerazim practice self-control and are less physically demanding."_

"Then what do you suggest to me to do? Sit under a tree and do nothing?" Asked Louise.

" _No, I will oversee your progress closely from now on and teach you the mechanics behind Void energies. You are an easy learner but have a short temper. It might be dangerous to show you how to use Void energy without expecting you to try to imitate them when you think I am not watching."_

The girl stomped and huffed, "Fine."

"It's getting late." Said Tabitha. She wasn't wrong, the stablemaster was soon to be here as the familiars were being left to their summoners and he had to tend to the normal animals. "We should go."

" _I will take care of the terrazine container. You may leave as you wish."_

The girls nodded and bid their goodbyes. Kirche and Tabitha were going to spend the rest of the day with Syplhid and Flame and excused themselves. Siesta, for her part, had to show up at the servant quarters soon, also she wanted some time alone to mull over what Zeratul said about terrazine.

Louise, instead of going to her room, went to the library. She had to talk with someone.

* * *

Jean Colbert was reading one of his favorite tomes regarding the volatile properties of fire stones. He wasn't undeterred with the lack of progress of his steam engine. His calculations were hinting at a problem with the performance of the fuel. Either that or he had overestimated the thaumic energy to heat conversion and compensate the amount of water to fix the ratio of vapor generation.

"Hmm… Maybe it has something to do with the insulation." He muttered.

"Excuse me, Professor Colbert, do you have a minute?"

The teacher looked up from his book and saw that it was the Valliére girl who called him. "Ah, Miss Valliére, I didn't see you today in class."

"The headmaster told us that since we caught Fouquet, we didn't have to do the exam." She said. "He did tell you, did he?"

"No, I will have to speak to him later. If what you say is true, then I wouldn't worry too much." He said as he saw the panic rose and then fade from his student's face. "What did you want to see me for?"

The student was carrying a large piece of parchment, a map. "I am unsure where are the maps containing the magic ley lines of Tristain are. Do you know where they are?"

"Oh, they're right behind you, in the upper shelves." He answered amicably. "Say, what do you need them for? Geographical Thaumology isn't a subject you should see just yet." She didn't respond as she was busy trying to get her hands on the atlas named 'Ley lines across Halkeginia and their implications on summoning theory.' While she stood on her tiptoes.

The professor stood up from his desk to help the girl reach the atlas she was trying to grab. "Thank you." She said, "Something that the headmaster mentioned yesterday made me curious."

"Oh? Do tell."

"It is something to do with the Staff of Destruction. He mentioned the original wielder appearing in a town called D'Angleterre. Has the headmaster told you about him?"

She failed to notice the face of the man as it paled suddenly, he stammered an answer, "I… I don't think he talked to me about the man anymore than the Staff of Destruction itself. It was the main point of my research…"

As he talked away, she heard Zeratul talking to her. _"He knows something. I don't think he will tell you much."_

She answered him, _"But what is he hiding? Can you read his mind?"_

" _No, it is prohibited for us to prod an innocent's mind on a whim."_ He told her. _"Each mind is a sanctuary and it should be respected as so."_

"Miss Valliére? Did you hear what I said?" Asked the professor.

"Ah, yes. Thank you for the information, I will take mi leave then. Have a good night." She said as the professor waved half-heartedly.

"She is too curious for her own good. But I won't stop her in her search of knowledge." He said aloud to himself once she was gone.

On some other part of the library, Louise was comparing the ley lines with a map of Halkeginia. She used the academy as a reference, where she found many of the thaumic lines converge on top of it, a node. It made sense, she told herself, that they had built the school there if they wanted to have the students summon creatures reliably.

Ley lines were paths were the magical energy of the world flowed and allowed mages to perform stronger variations of regular spells. In a sense, summoning spells worked using the same principle of apparating, just in a larger scale and specific to each mage. The more lines crossing a location, the easier it became to cast more powerful spells.

" _Interesting…"_ Said the Dark Templar. _"I would assume this could influence the sudden appearance of objects from my universe to yours."_

"Yeah, look here." She pointed at a point in the map. "D'Angleterre happened to be founded on top of a node, a small one, but it should be stable enough for someone to cross through given the circumstances on the other side."

" _It would seem Terrans were testing warp technology and something went amiss."_ He concluded. _"But why send a Marauder?"_

"A Marauder? The man from Osmond's story." She questioned.

" _Yes, Marauders are infantry units trained to deal with armored targets without resorting to vehicles. They carry small fabricators in their armor to make ammunition on the spot, we were fortunate enough to find the arm cannon with a grenade left. Otherwise it would be nothing but dead weight."_

"So, you mean the Staff of Destruction is useless now." She summarized.

" _Indeed. I would bet Osmond would be gracious to gift you the cannon if you explained that to him before some fool tries his luck with an empty weapon."_

"One thing at a time, I don't want to look like I want the whole Vault to myself." She stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes.

" _I believe you should go to sleep, Young Louise."_ Advised Zeratul.

Soon after that, she put back her studying material and headed back to her room with the protoss still following her from the shadows. "I just hope Derflinger and Zapper behaved themselves, I don't want to hear him bickering, or anyone to hear him for that matter."

After a brief walk, she found herself in the hallway to her room. Before she could get closer to her precious resting place, Zeratul stopped her. "What's the big idea?"

" _I sense two people there, I recognize one of them. The princess, I believe."_

"Aw, for Brimir's sake. Give me a break, please! I just want a normal night of sleep, is that too much to ask?" She whined.

" _Do you wish for me to subdue them?"_ He proposed.

"No, Henrietta might want something. I can't ignore her, she's my friend." She said as she opened the door.

"Louise Francoise LeBlanc de la Valliére!" Snapped the princess in mock anger, "When were you going to tell me your familiar talks!"

"Founderdamnit, Derflinger. You had one job!"


	22. Chapter 21 A Royal Favor

**Author Notes: Finally I got around to finishing this chapter. With classes coming to an end, I have to present a proyect this friday, look for someplace to do my residences and my cat ate a roach earlier today and he's been barfing all day.**

 **Anyway, I have a little one-shot crossover in the works of RWBY and Hollow knight. It just grew on me and I had to take it out of my head. I want it to be at least 8k long. But eh, I have other things to do now. I hate being responsible.**

 **Let's see the reviews.**

 **Doom King of Latveria: Kirche is here because it would be too hard for me to keep Zeratul hidden from Tabitha. If the blue one knows, the red one will badger her until she spills the beans. As for Zeratul's treatment of other's minds, I feel like it would be best if I kept things like that because otherwise revelations would be less impactful for the characters.**

 **Sigma-del-Prisium: Yeah, that sword has a mind of its own.**

 **captaindickscratcher: Yeah, I thought about it since ley lines are supposed to be a big point in spellcasting in some fantasy universes. The magnitude of the summoning is both affected by the place of summoning and the power of the caster itself, so I thought "Oh, that might work here" and here we are.**

 **ChronoEntente: You might be. Anyway, she will be a Spectre. A mentally stable Spectre.**

 **AxDevilman: Yep. I too love that when it happens.**

 **poopy: Not yet. Protoss hadn't developed that kind of tech yet.**

 **buterflypuss: Thanks.**

* * *

Chapter 21. A Royal Favor.

She wanted to scream. To hide her face in her pillow and scream herself to sleep. To get the sleep she so desperately wanted. To forget her ridiculous string of sleepless night after sleepless night. What did she do to deserve this fate? Was it her being a Void mage, having a weird familiar, an alien mentor or simply being friends with royalty?

"Princess, what a surprise! What brings you here, in my room, in the middle of the night, after I left the door locked?" She asked in a tone balancing between overly sweet and infuriated sarcasm.

"Louise Francoise, it's good to see you as well." Henrietta responded, either unaware of the annoyance in Louise's voice or ignoring it altogether. "Now," She lifted the protoss probe in her hands. "When did you teach your familiar to talk?"

"Ugh…"

"The princess asked you a question. Answer it." Said the woman standing at attention next to Louise's bed, where Henrietta was sitting on. That woman, Agnes, was tall, with short orange hair and had a temper similar to Louise's mother in a good day.

The purple haired royal waved a dainty hand, "Agnes, don't be so forceful, please."

"Right, uhh… You see… Actually, that's not Zapper speaking." Louise began, then she pointed at the discarded sword propped against a corner, still in its sheath. "Zapper, please let Derflinger go."

"Finally!" Cried out the artificial soul as the mechanical familiar escaped from the princess' arms and captured the sword in its beam of light. A tractor beam, as Zeratul called it. Suddenly, a flash of white erupted from Zapper's familiar rune and it hovered back to Louise's side.

"I hate it when that ball of scrap does that." Said the sword as the hilt moved up and down for each word.

"See? A magical, talking sword." Declared Louise.

"That's amazing. How did you find such an item?" Asked the princess.

"I found it in a weapons shop." It wasn't technically a lie, Zeratul told her Derflinger came from the same weapon shop Kirche bought that ornamental sword. "It looked like a nice paperweight so I bought it."

"Rude."

"Aren't you being a little too harsh on him?" Henrietta questioned.

"I bet you wouldn't think that if you spent a week with him making puns nonstop." Louise crossed her arms and sighed. "Now, I don't want to keep talking about Derflinger. What brings you here, Princess?"

Henrietta stood up and placed her hands over her bossom. "First of all, I would like to congratulate you on stopping Fouquet in her recent attempt to steal the Staff of Destruction. Where it not for your and your friends' quick response, I would shudder to imagine what she might have done to our kingdom."

"I only did what a noble should do, Princess." Replied Louise humbly. "I'm sure any other student would have risen to the opportunity to chase Fouquet down."

"How humble." Muttered Derflinger from his spot.

"Zapper, take him outside." Ordered the student. The familiar obeyed without any sign of hesitation and took a protesting sword out of her room. "Now, where were we?"

The princess seemed nonplussed by the interactions between Louise and Derflinger, she merely pushed a lock of purple hair behind her ear and said. "Officially, I am not to be here until tomorrow to give a small speech and congratulate you and your friends in your endeavor. But I am inclined to make a request for your assistance."

"Your word is my command, Princess. You know that." Oh goodness, now what?

"I know it's selfish and you probably have better things to do now that the summer break is soon to begin." Louise wanted to slap herself, she had forgotten that this was the last week of class before the next holidays. Maybe she should invest in getting a calendar, keeping track of the days might prove useful when she couldn't even remember when she was supposed to have a break. "But there have been rumors of nobles abusing their position and power to take advantage of our citizens. If the commoners are truly being treated that way, there is no telling what that may drive them to do." Explained the princess.

"What do you want me to do, Princess?" Asked Louise with all the cheer she could muster.

Seeing her childhood friend so eager to please, Henrietta sighed before saying, "As soon as your classes are over, I want you to pose as a commoner and try to find out if it's true whether or not there are nobles taking advantage of my citizens."

The pink haired girl nodded as she furrowed her brow. If what she saw at Count Mott's manor was anything to go by, it wasn't too farfetched the thought of other members of nobility were abusing their power in another ways. Hopefully in less aggravating ones.

But there was a detail she wasn't too keen about. "As a commoner? Wouldn't it be easier if I just went like myself?"

Agnes took this moment to respond. "Commoners are not the type of people to say a noble something he doesn't like. They would simply lie to you and avoid talking about it out of fear of your response."

"I see."

"Please. Do not think of this as a royal command, but as a favor to a friend. It's important to me the safety of the people I am responsible of protecting." Said Henrietta.

Before Louise could answer, she heard Zeratul speaking to her from outside her room. _"I believe this will prove to be an enlightening experience. I highly suggest you to take it."_

"Very well, Princess. I will do it." She decided. "Where am I supposed to go on this mission?"

"The capital should be a good place to go and once you're done gathering information, you can go to the palace and tell me what you find. I trust your judgement and you may act at your discretion. In any case, I will leave a small amount of ecu so you can cover your expenses."

She turned to her personal guard. "Agnes, I think it's best to leave now."

The two women left the room and were met with the sight of Louise's familiar spinning Derflinger like a top while the sword swore threats of bodily harm and scrapyards. "Goodnight, Derflinger. Please take good care of my dear friend."

As they let the door open to let the two metallic beings enter back in and make Louise some company, Henrietta couldn't help but feel guilty at burdening her childhood friend with this favor. She knew Louise would never deny her a single request, she was too loyal to herself and the royal family to a fault. But the prospect of having her subjects hating the rule of her mother and her position as the next in line for the throne was too risky to be true.

"Your Highness, we must not tardy." Said Agnes as she waited for the princess to begin walking again, too lost in thought by whatever new nuance she happened to discover. "The Que-your mother is sure worried by your early leave."

"Right, right. Let's go."

Once they were gone, Zeratul materialized in the room and held the door open for the probe and the sword to come back in, the two of them wisely silent at the current state of the girl living here.

"Zeratul. Have I done something wrong?"

The protoss would have risen an eyebrow if he had the features to do so, _"No, as far as I know. Why do you ask?"_

The girl rolled on her bed from side to side like a child, "I think I am being punished by something I did in a previous life or something. Tell me, when did everything go from normal to this?"

"Calm down, Pinky. I'm sure this is nothing compared to what the first Void mage had to do." Was the attempt from Derflinger to defuse her current mood.

Needless to say it wasn't a successful attempt. "Shut up, you stupid sword!" Yelled Louise, throwing one of her pillows to the rusty weapon. "If only you hadn't revealed yourself to the princess then I wouldn't be in this position."

" _I disagree with that statement, Young Louise."_

"Huh?"

The Dark Templar made his way to the window and looked outside. _"They came here to specifically give you this assignment, Derflinger or not. In fact, I am eager to see your performance on this duty."_

The girl turned her head to Zeratul, "Why do you say that?"

" _Dark Templars have a unique set of abilities that make infiltration considerably easier than the rest of the protoss."_ Louise could understand that. Zeratul was able to follow her for an entire day and no one had noticed up until now, except for Tabitha and Kirche. If someone knew a thing or two about being unnoticed, it was him. _"Consider this as your first practical lesson."_

The girl felt like asking something else, but the heaviness of her eyelids and the fuzzy cotton in her mind were begging her to stop staying awake and go to sleep. With what little mental faculties she had, she said. "Zeratul, would you mind checking the door? I don't want to be bothered by another visitor tonight."

" _Sleep well, Young Louise."_

* * *

The congratulatory speech was a short one, however it still let the message clear to everyone present. A job well done by three students wanting to do what their position demanded them to do and a show of responsibility to be followed by their peers. The princess made sure to keep the whole affair short, out of respect for her friend's school schedule and the time she had to get herself ready before getting started with her mission.

"…And lastly, in the name of the kingdom of Tristain, I deeply thank each and every one of you three and hope this small boon of 600 ecu serves you well." Finished the princess sitting on an ornate chair.

Right now, they were occupying an empty lounge used for reunions in the main building of the academy. The people there were Tabitha, Kirche and Louise as the center of attention of the whole ceremony, the headmaster Osmond and his newly appointed assistant, Mr. Colbert and the person conducting the event was Henrietta with Agnes acting as her bodyguard. Not that the princess was in any risk in the current surroundings, she was more of a formality than anything else at the moment.

The three students politely thanked the royal and accepted the three bags of golden coins from the princess' bodyguard.

"With nothing left to say, I declare this meeting adjourned." Said the princess, standing up from her seat.

Everyone in the room bowed to her words. Henrietta used this moment to make her leave, as it was early noon and she had to go back to the palace and make sure her mother was at least doing something in her place other than keep 'grieving' as she had done for the last few years.

Louise, seeing her classmates talking over their reward, decided to give her goodbye to the princess before she left. Making way to her childhood friend, she said in a soft voice. "Princess, thank you for entrusting me on this matter."

"Don't worry about it, Louise Francoise. You're my best friend, I know you will do a good job." She responded. "But please, be careful I do not wish to see you get hurt over my petition."

"I will do what I can, Princess."

"Louise Francoise, you know you don't have to call me that. I am Henrietta, your friend first, princess second." She corrected. "I was hoping you wouldn't fall to calling me by my title again."

"I'm sorry, Henrietta. I guess at this point is more of a force of habit."

"Don't dwell on that, my friend. However, I must remind you that the money from the reward is the only funds you will have on your task."

Louise tested the weight of the pouch she held. It was understandably heavy with 200 ecu for her and the rest divided between the other two students. "I understand, Henrietta."

"Is there anything else you might want to know before I go? I won't be able to get in touch with you until your assignment ends."

"No, I have it under control." Responded Louise with confidence.

The princess and the student bid their farewells and went on to follow their correspondent schedules. As they left, Agnes asked the princess, "Your Highness, are you sure this girl will fulfill your request? She seems inexperienced."

"I have full trust in my friend. Besides, this is a small favor. There is no way she could get in serious trouble if anything goes wrong and, if it does, you already have some of your girls watching this problem." Henrietta stated.

"As you wish, Princess."

Looking at the two retreating figures from a corner near the ceiling, were two glowing dots of green as the conversation was overheard. But their words took the backseat of Zeratul's thoughts as he resumed his watch over one of his charge's daily routine when she went back to have some semblance of normalcy back in her life, at least for the rest of the week.

The younger girl had to deal with her classes as she grew accustomed to know, that despite her current accomplishments and her efforts for escaping her stigma of being the magicless loser, the majority of her classmates still sent leers from the corner of their eyes whenever they thought she wasn't looking.

"One would think twice to treat you this way after we took care of Fouquet, right, Louise?" Asked Kirche, sitting in the place next to her. The class wasn't particularly an exciting one, being about one of those subjects one goes over after everything else was done and covered but some needed to clear a detail or two about them. Not that Louise needed to listen, her already having the best score in her entire year.

"I don't know why. It just looks like everyone forgot I even was involved." Louise grumbled. After their last interactions, she wasn't against socializing with the germanian that had irked so much during the previous year. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to be too friendly with her, just as polite as she was willing to be for a woman from a barbarian empire. "And yet, they still look at you like you did everything."

"Eh, it comes with my looks." Came the nonchalant answer. "So, what were you doing with the princess before she left?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Louise shrugged, "I wanted to personally thank her for giving us a reward. I wasn't expecting anything like that, to be honest." She lied. Changing the subject, she continued. "What are you going to do these holidays?"

"I don't know." The redhead tapped her lips in thought, "I will spend some time with Tabitha, she seems a little lonely. What about you?"

"I will stay here. I want to start my lessons as soon as possible." She simply said, it wasn't entirely a lie. "Anyway, I don't have much else to do back home."

"Yeah, I know how it feels." They stared at the teacher monologuing for a few more minutes, the theme he was exposing was wrapping up to an end. She knew that from the tone some teachers had when they too wanted to finish the class. "Oh, looks like it's almost time for lunch."

"Hungry?" Came Tabitha's voice from the germanian's left. The usually quiet girl then added, "I want to eat, too." Justifying her interjection.

The class was dismissed shortly after, heading for the dining hall the three girls went for their usual table. The kitchen staff had extended their signs of gratitude for Louise to her current two classmates, courtesy of the chef Marteau, and served them the meals they observed they were fonder of. Besides that, Louise reflexed, nothing else was out of the ordinary.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard from Zeratul the entire day. Maybe he was with Siesta, she needed the most supervision after all. No one wanted an incident caused by someone with budding psionic powers.

* * *

The maid was serving tea for the Montmorency girl, who thankfully was too engrossed with her conversation to take notice of the absentminded expression of Siesta. Her body was perfectly used to this motions that it was easy for her to keep a conversation and still work at an appropriate rate.

Zeratul wanted to make an exercise out of this. Having her send her thoughts to communicate with him instead of him having to read her surface thoughts. It was quickly apparent that she wasn't ready as she just sent a _'hel…'_ after a minute or so of scrunching up her face so hard a friend of her asked if it was that time of the month. Embarrassment aside, the Dark Templar and her resorted to their first method of communication as he lectured her about the basics of mental self-control.

" _To keep yourself under control is vital for any psionic user."_ Zeratul told her, hiding somewhere. _"Your emotions are dangerous if left unchecked."_

She then responded in thought, _"Then that means I won't be allowed to feel?"_ She didn't want to be seen as an unfeeling, cold woman if she wanted to wield psionics.

" _No."_ She kept watch of her table, attending the students as soon as they needed something. _"Emotions are important to fuel your actions, never to drive them."_

"Servant, I want a second serving of lamb." Ordered a student, a rotund one whose name kept eluding her.

She grabbed the plate and said, "As you wish." She went into the kitchen and called for another helping of the food she was ordered to bring.

"Sometimes these children are insufferable." One cook busy stirring a pot in a stove muttered.

"I hear ya." Another one said. "Sometimes I wish they asked for things nicely."

"Meh, as long as I don't have to personally deal with them, I'm good." Butted in a third one, who handed the portion of food to Siesta. "Here you go. Now hurry, before they throw a tantrum."

" _And off I go again."_ She thought, forgetting that Zeratul could hear her.

" _I believe this works as an exercise of self-control, if what your co-workers say is true."_

She couldn't imagine hearing the sage-like protoss joking at all, _"Um… Ok…?"_

" _However, a better exercise is available."_ Not hearing a response, he took it as a sign to go on. _"Young Louise was tasked with an information gathering mission. She is to be deployed as soon as her classes are over. She doesn't know it yet, but you both will be undergoing this task under my supervision."_

" _Well, since most students are leaving, I won't have much to do. In fact, I think most of the non-essential staff is allowed to have some vacations until classes are back."_ She handed the meal to the teen who requested it. "Here is your food, young lord."

Wordlessly, the teen began to eat. Thankfully with the decorum a noble was supposed to have, despite unheeding the hand that gave him something to eat. Siesta, for her part, went back to her spot looking over the table and making sure everyone was comfortable and didn't have anything else to focus on other than their meal.

Ever since that incident with Guiche, she put more attention to her immediate surroundings. She didn't want to be bumped by someone and have everything happening all over again, even if she wasn't at fault.

" _An ideal time to strike."_ Mused Zeratul a few seconds later. _"You will have to inform Louise if you want to take part of this test along her. Unless you want to prove you can do this alone."_ He offered.

Siesta resisted the urge to shake her head, not wanting to be seen doing it without apparent reason. _"No, no. I wish to do this with Miss Valliére."_

" _Very well. I will resume my watch."_

Seeing that she wasn't going to have anything to do for the next half an hour, she went back to practicing. After all, these nobles were too preoccupied with their own mingling to notice a rapidly red-facing maid.

Half an hour, and nearly an embolism, later, Siesta was cleaning rooms and changing bedsheets. Her mind drifting to what she would say to Louise as she mechanically swept, folded, unfolded, wiped and washed. The sooner she found her, the sooner she would try to convince her to let her help with her assignment.

After finishing the room, she gathered her things and pulled her trolley, a handful thing in her opinion, along to begin with the next one. She was so absorbed in her work and her inner thoughts she didn't notice who was the owner of her next cleaning spot.

"Oh, Siesta. What brings you here?" Asked Louise, looking up from the book she was reading.

"I'm cleaning rooms, Miss Valliére. May you please step out while I work?" She asked.

"Sure, sure." The younger girl responded, "Go ahead." She made her way to the hallway, book in hand.

As she started sweeping, she said. "Zeratul told me you had something important to do." She saw Louise still for a moment before continuing, "He told me it would be a good opportunity to learn something."

"Yes, it might be true. But I don't see why he told you about it, it was supposed to be a secret."

She took the chance to volunteer. "I want to help you."

Curiosity made way to the young mage in training's voice, "Why? Did Zeratul put you up to it, too?" The absence of a response confirmed her suspicion. She sighed, "Fine, it's not like we're going to do anything dangerous."

"That's wonderful, I better get ready." Siesta finished with the floor and moved on to change the bedsheets. "Where are we going?"

"To the capital to gather some information. I guess I would be a more convincing commoner if one of you teaches me how to act like one, no offense." She added at the risen eyebrow of her friend.

"None taken." The maid kept doing her work and she realized something. "Hey, my uncle has an inn in the capital. If there is a place where people say what they think, that might help us a lot."

"That's a great idea, Siesta!"

As the two girls chatted away, the Dark Templar saw this small revelation with an air of satisfaction. _"A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."_

* * *

Omake

Entrance to the Void. Time Unknown.

In a sea of darkness and dots of light, a massive spear of an intricate design with countless moving pieces of gold and crystal in the shape of rings soared with nothing to oppose it. Zeppelin-like vessels went alongside it like flies if one were to compare their sizes. Even being hundreds of times smaller than the gigantic, the oval ships held within more than a hundred smaller ships.

It wasn't that the fleet was made with a craftmanship specialized in small things. No. To give some perspective, the smallest of the ships, an Interceptor, was slightly bigger than a horse drawn carriage. The Carrier, which housed the Interceptors, was ten times bigger than the Academy of magic of Tristain.

The Spear of Adun, however, was the single biggest artificial structure to be deemed as a ship, being more than two hundred times the size of the biggest Carrier ever constructed. It was more of a traveling citadel in purpose than anything else, built to let the protoss use as a refuge and base of operations in the most dire of times.

Inside the bridge, a figure of a heavy set of white and gold armor stood, giving orders to the pilots on the controls and the engineers in the bowels of the vessel. Hierarch Artanis then looked to a holographic screen showing him the out to the flanks of the Spear of Adun.

To the left of the colossal flying object, an enormous portal roughly the third of the size of it opened. It spewed forth what it looked like a group of gargantuan fleas. Zerg equivalents of the Carriers, the Leviathans carried thousands of zerg organisms, from larva to Ultralisks, from one planet to another to spread their territory across the Koprulu sector.

To the right, space shifted as dozens of blocky, grey capital ships jumped from hyperspace in practiced, uniform choreography. Battlecruisers were the best of the best the terrans had to offer when it came to power and sustainability for long trips that required either heavy ordinance or a large movement of troops.

The leader of the Daleaam saw the screens change the image to show two different people. The first was a terran with disheveled hair and stubble beard suited up in a heavily armored spacesuit. The visor was obviously retracted, showing his face known to many as the outlaw that he once was; Jim Raynor.

On the other screen, a haze of green and purple gave way to a feminine face which stood out from the rest of her body. The Ghost specialist that was Sarah Kerrigan had long since been infested by the Overmind. Her body resembled that of an exoskeleton designed for close and brutal combat.

" _Greetings, James Raynor and Kerrigan. I am overjoyed to find our arms no longer aimed at one another in our crusade against the dark god Amon. In light of our imminent assault to his physical body tethered to the Void, we should examine our path of-"_ He stopped as he saw the confused faces of the two in the screens.

He saw the two of them mouthing off what he assumed were words while Jim pointed down at something he didn't see and Kerrigan gradually grew annoyed. _"Phase-smith Karax, it seems we have some problems with our communication systems."_

A third display appeared showing the phase-smith in charge of the logistics and technological development of the Spear of Adun, Karax. _"En taro Tassadar, Hierarch. This is the Spear of Adun's customer support. May you please give me a description of your problem?"_

" _Karax, our communications are not working properly. This is a serious issue."_ Said the leader of the protoss without a hint of amusement.

" _Ah, have you tried turning the microphone on?"_ He suggested.

"…"

" _Thank you for choosing the Spear of Adun's customer support. Have a nice day."_


	23. Chapter 22 Amidst Fairies

**Author Notes: It's been almost a month since the last update and I don't like how the only thing that I managed to scrap was this measly little chapter and for that I'm sorry. I've been busy with life but thankfully nothing bad has happened to me yet.**

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 **HeirOfVoid: I feel like he's the perfect IT guy for some reason.**

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* * *

Chapter 22. Amidst Fairies.

The two of them were standing in front of a building in the capital of Tristain. Louise was wearing a black dress and a fashionable bonnet while Siesta wore a simple green dress, the clothes of the mage made her look like the child of a richer-than-normal commoner, her friend wasn't too easy to dismiss given her simple beauty.

The building they were in front of was named the 'Charming Fairies', they had agreed to meet there to start their work. Zeratul told them that he was going to be overseeing their progress, give them advice and would only interfere if they were in peril.

Louise had tried to spend the money the princess gave her sparingly. Siesta insisted that she didn't wear any of her fancy clothes, opting instead to buy them at a local tailor for cheap. Instead of staying at a hotel, she assured Louise that her uncle would gladly accommodate them for their time in the capital. However, in order to get here, they had to rent a horse from the stables at the school. Usually they didn't seem to mind if the students had to borrow one for a few hours, but since they wouldn't come back until a week or so Louise had to pay a toll, a costly one at that.

In the end, they had little money to spare at the moment, but they had most of their future expenses covered.

The two girls entered the establishment and were met with a sight that made Louise stop in her tracks and slowly turn her head to her friend.

"Siesta."

"Yes, Miss Valliére?"

"I think you omitted one detail when you told me about this place."

"And what would that be, Miss Valliére?"

"You forgot to tell me-" She stopped herself when she noticed some of the men looking at the newcomers and pulled Siesta down by her shoulder to hiss, "That this was a brothel!"

Scantily clad, in Louise's opinion, women were going from table to table serving food and drinks to the patrons. The girls flirted openly with them and showed no modest amounts of skin to enchant their clients into giving them generous tips.

"Miss Valliére, how could you say that! This is considered the best inn in Tristain, I know my uncle would never debase his workers like that!" She defended.

"Cousin, is that you?" Interrupted a soft feminine voice.

The undercover mage and maid turned to see a girl in a dress of similar color as Siesta's, she wore a piece of cloth to cover her long black hair which framed her lovely face. Her bust was something that drew Louise's eyes, out of wariness with her experiences with her classmate of similar size, and no doubt every man's eyes to that cleavage.

"Jessica, hi!" Exclaimed the maid. "It's been some time since I last saw you. How is uncle Scarron?"

"He's fine. Let me call him so he can come meet you." Jessica went some place out of their sight and the two girls standing on the entrance continued their chat.

The taller one's voice was clipped as she said, "I can't believe you think so low of my family, Miss Valliére."

Louise was quick to answer, "Look, I'm sorry. It's just… I've never been to these places. Whenever mother takes me somewhere, we stay out of inns and other businesses commoners frequent." The blush in her face was of shame at the thought of being so blunt in her earlier statement.

Siesta sighed and calmly said, "You are forgiven, Miss Valliére. Now let's go see uncle Scarron, I see my cousin is calling for us." It was true, the young woman was standing outside of a door waving an arm as her voice was slightly drowned by the chatter of the clients and the clinking of glasses and dishes. As they went there, the maid added. "Next time, please don't jump to conclusions. I heard it's unbefitting for a noble to do so."

As soon as they entered the office were Jessica was calling them from, Louise found the most unsightly man she had ever laid eyes upon.

He was well built, she could not deny it. A shame that it was shown by a purple top that left his stomach bare and green, skin-tight pants. His face was covered in a heavy layer of makeup, his lips were stuck in an eternal pout and on his upper lip was a thin moustache. Overall, unforgettable person for the wrong features.

"Siesta, darling, how have you been? Go ahead, sit down." He exclaimed in a girly intonation, but his natural deep voice made it sound strange for a man his size. "I received your letter and I already have a room ready for you and your little friend. What was your name again? I know my niece wrote it but I forget."

"My name is Louise, Mr. Sca-"

"Hush, hush, darling. Don't you see that I am a pretty mademoiselle?" A lady?

"Oh, um… I'm sorry mademoiselle Scarron. I am Louise, I work with Siesta in the academy." She greeted.

"Hi uncle, we've been fine. Work has been tedious for the most part, thankfully I met Louise and we became friends rather quickly." Siesta told Scarron, suppressing the urge to call her by her surname. Weirdly enough, he the mademoiselle wasn't bothered at being called uncle.

The undercover noble went, "I think we should get some time to freshen up, don't you think, Siesta?"

"Actually, I wish to stay here and keep talking with my uncle. You can go ahead." Siesta responded and went back to her conversation.

Jessica tapped Louise on the shoulder and told her to follow her. The two of them went upstairs and as they did so, the older girl asked, "You seem uncomfortable, what is it?"

"I'm not."

"Is it about my father?"

"Kind of, I have nothing against him. He looks… flamboyant." She explained.

Jessica sighed and looked at the smaller girl. "He wasn't always like that. My mother passed away when I was a kid and he decided that I needed a mother figure. Ironically enough, any woman who was interested in him turned away when he started acting like that. But, in the end, I would never wish for anyone else to have raised me." She finished with an air of pride at Scarron's work.

Louise could understand that. Her parents were always there to make sure she had anything she wanted, when she deserved them of course, but considering they were of high nobility it was of extreme ease compared to commoner families. She had tutors, cooks, servants and caretakers for whenever her parents weren't available for a day or two. But those beneath her social standing didn't have those luxuries.

"I see." Louise said. "Say, what do you do here? You are good looking, I bet you make nice tips."

"No, no, no." She frantically said, shaking her head. "Dad's so overprotective he would never risk me being near the customers. I mostly wash dishes and cook." A sly grin grew on her, one that Louise had grown to dread on a certain germanian. "Do I really look that good?"

"No- I mean, yes, I-." She wished she could stop shoving her foot in her mouth. Siesta was right, she assumed things too soon. "I'm sorry for assuming things."

The raven haired one said in a softer tone, "Good, now keep it that way." They stood before a guest room. Unlike the ones used by the customers, these were exclusively for those workers from out of town who couldn't get back home because of weather or other reasons. As for that, they were empty most of the time. "Here is where you and Siesta are going to stay. Now, I must go. By now the dishes must be piling up." She hurriedly said her goodbye and disappeared into the masses of waitresses and patrons below.

She took in her new surroundings and what she found didn't amaze her. It was as she expected it to be, nothing superfluous or ornate decorated anything, the nightstands were bare of décor and the beds were covered in simple white sheets of some rough, in her opinion, fabric.

Her inspection was cut short by the door opening once again and Siesta entering the guest room. "You know, Miss Valliére? It is a shame we left our belongings back at the academy."

"I know, but we can only bring the essentials." Responded the mage, pulling her wand from her stocking and placing it on her nightstand. "So, what did your uncle tell you?"

"Oh, nothing much." She began, "His business is going through a rough spot, but he said I shouldn't worry."

"That's good to hear."

"Also, I will be busy in the kitchen while you wait the tables."

"What, why?" She looked up wide eyed at her friend, who hid a mischievous smile. Sure, they hadn't put out of the question that they were going to be around the inn to gather some information and overhear conversations, but Louise assumed they were going to do so posing as costumers, they still had some money to afford food.

"I offered my uncle our help for the rest of the week. It will be easier to stay here as workers and not appear suspicious." She explained, her smile never leaving.

"No, not that." Exclaimed Louise, "I mean why do I have to be there for those dogs!"

"Well, since uncle won't let me wait the tables and you don't know how to cook, that was the only place where you could work."

"Is this about the comment about this being a brothel?" The smaller girl asked, hanging her head in defeat.

"Whatever you mean, Miss Valliére?" The maid said in mock ignorance, "I have already forgiven you."

Noticing the ever so teasing grin in her friend, she muttered. "Henrietta will owe me for this."

Zeratul looked on the rest of the conversation in silence. He had no opinion on what they were going to do for what they wanted to find, as he recalled a few times when he had to do something he didn't like in order to achieve a greater good. A painful memory rose up when he had to kill his matriarch Raszagal to free her from the hold of the Queen of Blades.

He only hoped his charges wouldn't have to be put in a similar situation. At least he would be here to defend them from any immediate danger.

"Can I at least try out the kitchen? I can learn how to cook, I promise." The would-be waitress asked her friend. She had some experience, if half burning her parents' kitchen that one time she wanted to make her big sister Cattleya breakfast. She learned from that day on that water was a flammable liquid given she was the one handling it in a pot, it was something but she had some knowledge at least.

"I'll see what I can do, but I don't guarantee your position."

Using the small lull in their talk, he butted in, _"Gifted Siesta, I must remind you to practice transmitting your thoughts to a specific target. You must master this by the end of this assignment."_

"Well, she gets some training out of this." Stated the mage, with some hint of envy in her tone.

" _You will use this opportunity to practice self-control. For what I observed a wen you came in, this place is out of your comfort bubble and therefore you have to keep your volatile tendencies under control."_ Louise frowned at the unintentional pun regarding her history with explosions.

* * *

The next morning was marked by the pink haired girl falling off her bed after getting woken up by someone. "Gah! Who-what-where am I?"

From her spot on the ground, her gaze rose to meet Siesta's excited eyes and she found herself asking in a miserable way. "The sun is not even out yet, what time is it?"

"Around five in the morning, Miss. Valliére." She answered, "We must go downstairs and help clean up the place before the clients come in." She heard her friend groan at the time and slowly pick herself up.

"It's too early for this." She complained. "Can we go have some breakfast before we start?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Valliére, but breakfast will have to wait for another hour before everything is in working order. This is an inn after all and some patrons stay the night here too."

"Great."

The taller one decided to give her friend some time to freshen herself up and get her brain working. "You better hurry, unless you want uncle Scarron to come fetch you."

Louise shuddered at the memory of the garish man. She was sure to be quick in helping Siesta out.

Back to the psionic woman in training, she was making her way to her cousin who was wiping a table clean and greeted her. Maybe it was her imagination, but she looked a bit off when she was distracted before her making herself known today. "Oh, hi Siesta. How did you sleep?"

"I had a good night, thanks. May I?" She asked pointing at another rag in the bucket that Jessica had. She nodded and Siesta went to work, sheer desire to satisfy her curiosity in her mind. _"I wonder what's bothering her."_

Jessica's head shot up and turned to look at her. "Did you say something?"

"No, no. I didn't say anything." She quickly denied. "So, what do you think of Louise?"

"She's a sheltered girl if I'd ever seen one." She shrugged. "She was a little blunt at the concept of good-looking girls making good tips. But I don't think she's a bad person."

At that moment, they heard a door being flung open and they both turned to see the girl they were talking about stomping down the stairs and stop in front of them. She stood there with fists to her waist and wearing a waitress uniform.

"What is the meaning of this?!" She demanded. "Don't you have something a little more modest that this?"

Her frightening glare was nothing compared to her current outfit that made her seem like a cute little angry doll. "Well?"

"Right, um… Jessica, Louise is not very good at being around people, so she asked me to ask you to try the kitchen duty before waiting the tables." Siesta explained after noticing the confused look on Jessica's face.

"I'm sorry but that place is overstaffed and we need a fresh face in the inn." The dejected Louise slumped in an unladylike manner.

"So, I'm stuck wearing this?"

"For the moment, yes. But on the bright side, dad is starting a competition soon and the one who makes the most tips will get a special reward." Jessica offered.

Then, as if summoned, Scarron burst out of his office with a bundle of something in his hands. "Hello and good morning, my darlings!"

"Good morning, mademoiselle Scarron!" Every girl within earshot greeted.

The gaudy man smiled and exclaimed through pouty lips. "As you know, this week is the yearly competition of the fairies and prize is unknown. But not anymore!" He unfolded the thing he had in his hands. "This dress here is said to be so charming you won't have to work for a month with the tips of a day and it could be all yours." He announced.

Every girl there cheered at the idea of a month-long vacation. Everyone except of Louise who wanted to hit her face with the nearest blunt object as she saw that out of every single girl in here, she was the only one who could fit in the thing.

"Sometimes I feel like someone is out to get me."


	24. Chapter 23 Underdressed and Undercover

**Author Notes: Wow, almost two weeks later than I wanted this chapter to be released. I had a few problems making the dialogues, I'm not too good at making them sound convincing because everytime I re-read them it feels like unfeeling robots who know exactly what they have to say (Have you ever done something like that?)**

 **Anyways, I've been playing a lot of Hollow Knight recently, trying to get the pantheons in Godhome done with all the bindings. So that's something I can get blamed on. But still I need some of the lore for the little project I'm working on.**

 **Let's see the reviews:**

 **halo is bad ass: Indeed I am, I'm evil.**

 **AxDevilman: Do not worry... too much.**

 **Doom King of Latveria: It is an enticing dress code, I'll give it that. Also, those two won't make a reappearance just yet.**

 **Poppy: It is definetly something different.**

 **x-x-TheBurnedMan-x-x,** **Lovnag and buterflypuss: I'm glad you're liking this.**

* * *

Chapter 23. Underdressed and Undercover.

"Hey, sweetheart! I want another ale."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

"Me and the boys want another round!"

"Give me a minute, sir!"

"Oi, mind giving me another plate?"

"I said give me a minute!"

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. That was all her fatigued feet could do as she carried tray after tray of various foods and drinks to the patrons. She stumbled around the tables and other waitresses with a dangerous sway in her balance over those damned heels, if it wasn't for Eleanore, her eldest sister, forcing her to dance in that footwear for formal events she would have tripped and fallen several times now. But a ballroom where everyone was dancing at unison was very different to the organized chaos of an inn.

The other girls working around her didn't seem to have the same problem, already having grown accustomed to the reduced space for moving around. The cheerful smirks at the way the customers messed with each other and called out for more food and booze was proof enough that they didn't mind the rowdy environment. Also there was a rule of never touching the girls unless they wanted to have a 'personal talk' with Scarron.

Louise herself was not used to having a job, a commoner job to be more specific, and her feet were killing her. She desperately wanted to sit down and have someone give her a massage or something to alleviate the pain she was in. She was conflicted between her responsibility and being a good friend for the princess and her own sense of self-respect by working at something that would give her mother a heart attack if she found out. She could see it in her head, the doors being blown out by a gust of wind followed by a livid Karin and a berating of a lifetime, then she would be disowned by her family and sent off to marry the simplest farmer in the land an-

"Hey, new girl, watch where you're going!" One of the waitresses told her after Louise bumped into her and almost spilled the drinks she was carrying.

"Sorry, I was distracted." She hurriedly apologized. She made way for the other girl to pass by without more incident. The pink haired girl sighed, then she went back to Siesta, who was busying herself with chopping something Louise couldn't see from her spot outside the kitchen. "Hey, Siesta. Is it always so busy in here?"

"I wouldn't know Miss- uh… Louise." She caught herself, "But Jessica said today was going to be as busy as usual." The younger girl ignored any sign of decorum and groaned. "Is something wrong?"

"Will I sound too desperate if I ask to swap places with you today?"

The raven haired maid didn't skip a beat as she answered, "Well, you did start today and it's not even noon. So, I would say yes."

Louise whined in self-pity. She wanted to say something else but the same girl she bumped into earlier made herself known. "Excuse me, we need another three plates of potato stew and another pint of ale." She looked down at the sad looking girl and asked her, "Hey, why aren't you working? It's too early for taking a break."

The mage hid her displeasure at having a commoner telling her to go back to work. She wasn't proud of that feeling, but she was out of her comfort bubble and it still bothered her to some degree. "Right, I'm sorry."

"Just get back to work. Y'know, I'm pretty sure that dress would look nice on you." The waitress told her and went back into mingling with the rest.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Louise asked miserably.

"About a week or so before we have to get back to the Academy. At least that is what you told me in the first place." Dropping her knife and reaching for a bowl, she said. "I don't want to sound rude, but were there any orders for you?"

"Umm… Yeah, it was a… I forgot." She deflated and made her way back to ask again. Siesta couldn't help but feel a little bad for her, but her first impression with her family's establishment morphed that worry into a cheeky grin.

Jessica noticed her smile and asked, "Something funny, cousin?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy to see you again." She paused, "Have you talked the rest of the family?"

"I haven't, actually. I've been wanting to send them a letter, but I haven't found the time." Jessica said dejectedly. "Maybe I could go and visit them soon."

"That would be nice." Said Siesta, passing the bowl she was stirring to her.

"Yeah… Hey, how is your friend doing? She looked like she saw a ghost the moment dad showed this year's prize."

"She's… adjusting. Louise isn't used to this kind of places." Thinking back on their first interaction, she added. "She was a very secluded girl."

Jessica made an 'ah' noise and then resumed her work. The clinking and clanking of utensils and the popping and boiling coming from the stoves and ovens became the only sounds from the kitchen. The two girls, accompanied by the rest of the cooks worked almost mechanically to finish everything the clients ordered, knowing that the results of their work were important in lifting a person's humor. That's why they did what they did, everyone deserves having a moment of relaxation when one could unwind having a meal with friends and enjoying the sights.

" _Now, let us get back to practice."_ Siesta heard and almost nodded in confirmation. _"Try to greet me again. Follow my voice. Find me. Form the words and project them to me."_

Siesta found that following the protoss' voice worked differently than using her ears to follow a sound. She felt how her mind tried to remember and reach Zeratul's psionic words, then pressure formed in the right side of her brain, not painful or unpleasant like migraines were. In spite of this, she struggled to keep her eyes open and keep working, albeit at a slower pace, as to not raise any concern from anyone watching.

She decided to follow that pressure, tracing it to somewhere close to her spot. Was Zeratul making it easy for her to begin her training? It certainly felt so. He had explained in the way to Tristain that every protoss and, he assumed, psionic terran's minds worked slightly differently from individual to individual. Where some who transmitted thoughts in the same way they talked, others sent words like letters and in the more novice cases, pictures. All of them communicated something, it was the means of doing that which confused her.

" _This is too hard!"_ She complained in her head.

"Did you say something?" Asked a puzzled Jessica. Her cousin had been battling for a little while peeling potatoes, and even if Siesta hadn't noticed herself, she had already had some close calls with the knife she was using. "If you're feeling a little unwell, you can go and rest. I'm sure dad will give you some time off."

The maid blinked owlishly and realized what she had done. "Wha- I mean, no. I'm fine. I'm just getting reacquainted with kitchen duty. Usually I only have to do cleaning back at the academy."

"If you say so, now I think your friend came back with more orders." Siesta turned to see the flushed face from Louise, no doubt embarrassed at having to apologize to a commoner for her lousy performance.

" _An excellent first attempt, but you have to first locate the target before speaking."_ Commented her invisible mentor.

Siesta didn't get any better by the end of the day.

* * *

By the third day, Louise was dangerously close of bashing a platter over an old man's head over some comments regarding her lack of frontal development. Only to be stopped by another of the waitresses, Mindy if her memory served right, and be reprimanded by the colorful figure of Scarron. Then, a small incident occurred in the kitchen where Siesta almost dropped a pot of boiling water when she bumped into someone while she was distracted trying once again to find Zeratul to communicate with him. Thankfully, no one was hurt but she had to be sent to the guest room to ensure that she was feeling well.

And so, Louise was alone in her ordeal of finding information. She hadn't been hearing from Zeratul since yesterday, so she supposed that meant she was either doing really well or she was being observed with greater scrutiny than she initially thought. Of course, given her earlier loss of control she was being less effective at overhearing any words from the patrons, most of them quieting down whenever she was near them to take their orders. But on the bright side, for her ego at least, she wasn't hearing anything that could give Kirche ammunition if she were here to hear them.

Strangely enough, a few hours later the people who were present at the time of her outburst left and were replace by others who heard about the short-tempered pink girl. When they came, Louise found out that some men were weird when it came down to their taste in women, as some of them resorted at trying to have her redo her earlier display of rage and act like the dogs they were before her.

"Hey lass, sit here with us and have a drink!" One hollered, his friends laughed along. "Yeah, come and give us some tough lovin'."

Giving a dejected sigh, Louise made her way to the group of cheerful men. Once there, she asked with barely hidden irritation, "What may I bring you?"

"Aw, don't be like that. Come, sit with us!" The most vocal of them called out, "The wine here is best with good company." He raised a cup, followed by his friends.

Her already battered temper was cut shorter, "Grr… Tell me what you want, you dogs, and let me work in peace!" She yelled at him. The others at the table started laughing at the fire in her tongue directed at the guy.

"Oh that's what I wanted to see. See? I told you she was adorable when she was angry." One of them nudged to the guy she just yelled at, whose face was reddening either from the alcohol or any other reason she didn't want to think about. "Here, we've had our fun pretty lass." He handed her a few coins. A rarity she earned from her temporal job here.

She didn't thank them out of pride. The tips she had earned during these days barely amounted to anything she could consider as valuable. She doubted she could afford a meal at the academy with the money she got here, maybe it was a testament to the value of the services of her school or her poor service as a waitress.

She decided to take a break and excused herself with Scarron to check up on Siesta. Her friend's cousin stopped her midway to the guest room and spoke to her. "Hey Louise, you know what's going on with Siesta? She's been a bit out of it lately."

"Maybe she caught something on the way here, I'm not sure." She said. She adjusted the top of her frilly uniform, the damn thing was the smallest thing Scarron had for her and whenever she wondered why, all she had to do was to watch the other waitresses, or any other girl her age, to remind herself of her childish appearance.

"Well, I sure hope it's not anything contagious."

"Why is that?"

Jessica scratched the back of her head. "I've been hearing things ever since she started helping out in the kitchen, but every time I respond, she says that nothing happened. Do you know if something bad happened to her in that mage school?"

Louise was quiet for a moment, her commoner friend was indeed victim of some of the unfairness from nobles to those of lower caste, but she couldn't just say it outright to her family member because she might pry more and find out of their true reason for being here. She had to be careful and not give too many details, commoners, contrary to most of his classmates' belief, knew how to piece things together. That's how her grand-grand-grandfather's best friend's cousin got the guillotine, or so Eleanore had told her.

"And don't you dare lie to me. I know you're a mage, Valliére." What.

"Oh, come on!" She stomped her foot. With her head hung low, she asked lowly. "What gave it away?"

"First off, you come from the academy of mages as a friend whom Siesta never talked about. Second, you are not entirely familiar with how normal people spend their days. And finally, there is only one girl in Tristain called Louise who is built like a thirteen year old with pink hair and pink eyes. Not once in my life I have seen anyone with pink hair who wasn't of the Valliére family, the closest noble family to the crown. Might I continue?"

The younger girl's face was burning in embarrassment. "Would you believe me if I told you that Princess Henrietta sent me?" She meekly asked.

"…Are you serious?"

"Yes?"

"By Brimir, it's a miracle the country is still standing." Groaned Jessica. "Look, I don't know why you decided to bring my cousin along for your antics. But I would greatly appreciate it if you told me what is going on."

" _I'm honestly surprised nobody else has pieced together the matter of your presence here, Young one."_ She heard from above her. _"You might as well tell her, another lie could describe the downfall of this mission."_

And so, Louise explained that she was sent here for the purpose of finding any reason for what the populace might be upset with the ruling class, be it from fraudulent treatment, corrupt work or abuse of power. She saw how Jessica's eyes widen a bit at the last part, she then interrupted.

"There is a tax collector who comes here every month, a despicable man who likes to taunt my father and overcharges us for almost twice than what we have to pay. A lecherous pig, if you ask me. He's due to come here tonight, if that works for you."

"Can you tell Scarron about this? he's the owner of the place and I don't want him pointing fingers if he discovers who I am."

"I wouldn't worry about it, he's the one who figured it out. He wanted you to know to be more careful if this is what you believe blending in means." Replied the commoner.

Heat rushed to Louise's ears once again and locked her eyes on her own shoes. Without a word, she entered their room where she found Siesta was sitting cross-legged and muttering under her breath.

"What are you doing?"

The maid, startled, jumped a bit. "Oh, um… Hello, Miss Valliére. I was practicing this telepathy thing that Zeratul told me. Up until now, I hadn't had any luck."

"Really, how much have you done?"

"Nothing much, I am not able to find Zeratul first. If I can't then I could end up sending my thoughts to the wrong person." Explained Siesta.

"About that… your family already know why we're here." Seeing her friend's bewildered look, she continued, "They found out by themselves, there was no point in lying after that."

"Do they know about my…"

"No, it's impossible for them to know without us telling them. Zeratul made it clear that psionics are rare even with families with compatible genes."

"Then, what do we do?"

"Jessica told me someone was coming tonight and he could make us finish our mission earlier than we expected, and as a bonus, we can help your uncle's business in the process." Louise announced.

The girls talked while Zeratul overheard them from outside the room, making sure no onlookers could hear their conversation. _"She is taking changes as opportunities, good. She's adapting."_

* * *

The night fell a few hours later and Louise had to reluctantly go back to work. She had informed Scarron that Siesta was feeling better and she was fit to go to the kitchen, much to the uncle's delight. Other than the unusual petitions from some of the patrons, Louise hadn't found anything suspicious or signs of the tax collector.

The air in the inn suddenly stilled as a group of men entered the place. The normal customers hushed and huddled together in their tables, not wanting to be seen by the people at the door. And their change in behavior wasn't the only thing that caught Louise by surprise, the other waitresses grew a bit colder in their expressions, no longer actively approaching the patrons and instead inching closer to the opposite side of the building.

Through the entrance came a couple of men covered in leather armor, both of them flanking another Louise could easily identify as a noble. Not a high ranking one, but still a noble if his cocky smile and the colorful clothing he was wearing, not unlike an old peacock desperately trying to show off the only feathers it had left. His gut was trying to burst from his shirt and his receding hairline was covered in sweat and grease, all in all, a disgrace of a human being in Louise's eyes.

" _Stay alert, young one. He seems prone to overconfidence."_ She was warned, but she didn't need to have to listen to those words of wisdom when she felt his beady eyes fall on her. She found herself alone in the hushed inn, with no other waitresses wanting to get close.

"Ah, Scarron, my good man. Mind giving me and my men some of your finest wines? Of course, at the price we already agreed." Scarron made to go to fetch the order, an uncharacteristic scowl growing on his face matching the rage in his trembling fists, before he was stopped by the noble saying. "Actually, I want that one to give me my drinks we have some things to discuss."

Louise was the one whom Chelenne pointed at. With a brief nod from Scarron, she headed for the kitchen, where she found Siesta once again, this time with Jessica at her side, both peeking to try and see what was going on. "It seems like that's the guy you told me about, right?"

"Yes, he's the one. Dad can't deny him service otherwise he would shut us down. Not only he's corrupt, but he's a creep as well, he constantly tries to feel us up if we get the misfortune of serving him." Jessica summarized.

The mage nodded, processing what she was told. "I'll be careful then." She received a tray of cups and a bottle of wine she recognized, her mother liked drinking that particular brand from time to time. A popular choice among noble houses.

Returning to the dining area, Louise spotted quickly the group of men arguing. Or more in her eyes, Scarron remaining silent while Chelenne ran his mouth boasting about one thing and another. She made herself the center of attention merely by nearing them, then she set the cups and shakily served the wine, never letting her eyes wander to the pig's eyes which were no doubt ogling her.

"I thought you only contracted girls, Scarron. This boy's wig is very convincing, it could've fooled me." She couldn't help but feel the disgust crawling up her spine. Red was starting to fill her vision, then she was grabbed and pulled by the waist by this waste of noble blood, making a growl grow in her throat.

Before she did something rash, Scarron jumped in her defense. "Chelenne, this is the last warning! Let her go or you will face the consequences." He raised from his seat

"What consequences? If you do anything to try to hurt me, I will close this place down and make sure you never get to see the light of day again. The crown will trust my word over the one of a hick like you." He rebutted.

" _Do you need me to intervene?"_ She heard Zeratul offer, _"He is conveniently seated under a lamp."_

" _No, I have this under control. I still have the upper hand, this isn't like Mott."_ She thought, knowing the protoss could get the message. She didn't have to think louder, just put it in the forefront of her mind.

She saw her hand hover her flat chest as he commented, "You still have a pretty face for a boy, maybe you'll get a tip after all."

" _Ok, that does it."_ She struggled free and in a swift motion she planted her foot, heel and all, on the swine's face. "I am a girl, you flea ridden dog!" She ignored the drawing of swords from the bodyguards in turn of enjoying the crack of a tooth flying out of his mouth. She used her position to pull her wand out of her stocking and pointed it at them.

"My name is Louise Francoise LeBlanc de la Valliére. Tax collector Chelenne, under the name of Princess Henrietta you are under arrest. Mademoiselle Scarron, please get the law enforcement here in the instant."

"We don't believe you, why would a Valliére be working in a place like this?" One of the bodyguards advanced with no fear to the girl who had stomped on his boss' face. "Now, I don't want to hurt a little girl, so you better apologize or you'll get what you deserve."

"I will prove it then." She pointed her wand to an empty corner of the inn, with a small amount of willpower she uttered, "Fireball." To the commoner eye, it looked like one, but Louise didn't need to tell them the difference between what she chanted and the explosion that ensued, what she cared about was to prove that she had magic at her disposal. "Now, surrender your weapons." Thankfully, the explosion hadn't made any damages that couldn't be covered by the money she still had left.

The corrupt noble was too busy clutching his face in pain to pay attention to everything around him, so Louise ignored him altogether. "Stop squirming, you worm. You asked for this the moment you started this whole fraud." He reached for something and threw it at her feet.

Apparently, the man produced a bag of coins, it looked heavy and lumpy. Probably filled to the brim with ecús, if she had to guess. "Take it, take it. Please let me go. I won't do anything like this again." He begged.

The doors opened once again, this time a group of armed women, lead by Agnes de Milan, came in followed by Scarron. She stepped in front of Louise and greeted her. "We come here to incarcerate this man, our quick response is due to us being on the lookout for your safety during Her Majesty's assignment." The Valliére fought an eyeroll at that. "As far as I'm concerned, your duty is done and you can go back to your normal activities. Thank you for your service."

"Don't thank me, I am only doing what the Princess asked me." She replied respectfully. Well, that meant she could stop pretending to be a waitress and go back to wear her casual clothes. She was sure Siesta heard as well, after all Louise and the captain of the Mosqueteers were the center of attention in the otherwise quiet establishment.

"I will take my leave." With little fanfare, she left with the bodyguards of Chelenne being escorted by her mosqueteers in tow. It was remarkable how the patrons there quickly returned to their business, quietly as to not wanting to have their mutterings heard by another undercover noble. The silence was broken by the deluge of workers running from wherever they hid to greet Louise with a round of hugs, rapidly suffocating her in a sea of bodies.

"Stop, please. Let me breathe!" She cried. The arms around her left her alone. Letting her see Siesta giving her a polite clapping to congratulate her from a distance. "I think I have done my job here."

A rambunctious laugh made her turn and she was picked up and twirled in a crushing hug from the owner of the inn. "Darling, you did it! You don't know how much you have helped us." He exclaimed.

"Urk… Mad… Ah…" She grunted, missing the delicate embrace she received earlier.

He set her down on her feet, "And I believe someone just won the contest." Said the effeminate man grabbing the small black dress and draping it over her shoulder.

"What? But I didn't get a tip!"

"Nonsense," Exclaimed Jessica, who was now next to her father. "I remember a certain bag full of money from your last costumer."

"But that-" Oh, that.

"I am sad that this beauty wont be here to reap the reward of your work." Scarron wept at the fate of the prized possession. "Maybe you could try it on?"

" _Of course not, never in a thousand years!"_ "I'm sorry, but I have to leave. I have… uh… I have to go back to the academy and start studying for the next grade."

"Well, can my cousin be here for the rest of the week? I'm liking her company." Asked Jessica with pleading eyes.

"I don't see why not." Louise had no objection to that, given it was her who gave her the idea of staying here to begin with. "I'm sure she can stay here as long as she's able."

" _Thank you, Miss Valliére."_ She heard Siesta say. To which she replied, much to the maid's surprise.

"You can call me Louise, Siesta. You're my friend after all."

Zeratul nodded, perched from the railing of the staircase leading to the upper floor. _"I see some promising progress."_ He looked on as the group of people celebrated, _"But what danger are you so keen on preventing, Tassadar?"_


	25. 24 A Maid Introduced to Lovesick Foolery

**Author Notes: Wow... It's been a while, hasn't it?**

 **I've been neglecting writing recently, given a few things happening lately. But I still have a few ideas in the backburner mingling about.**

 **Anyway. I won't be long with this, I just want to wish you all a nice reading. However, I would like to point out that in one day I got a handful of reviews of just one random word from a few people. Is it normal or are they bots? I don't know, but it seems fishy. If they are real people, I apologize but I'm just curious.**

 **BTW. I cut the word "Chapter" for a reason.**

 **On to the reviews!**

 **Poopy: Sorry, it was a slip of the ton- err... finger.**

 **Arashi Tenebris: I used "" because I wanted to make it feel like an exclamative thought. Since I am, and will, be using thoughts through most of the story as both telepathy and internal thoughts, I want to differentiate them.**

 **searge and AxDevilman: Thank you, I give it a few more chapters before things start crossing out.**

 **Doom King of Latveria and buterflypuss: Thanks for the kind words, people from the internet.**

* * *

Ch.24. A Maid Introduced to Lovesick Foolery

"I'm glad this is over." Said Louise. She stretched her arms and looked through the window, the gentle rocking of the carriage lulling her into the sweet embrace of sleep. The Princess had offered them a ride back to the academy as a part of their reward for a job well done. She didn't seem upset at the fact that Louise had allowed a maid to help her in their endeavor, she was actually amused at that, much to the pink haired girl's surprise.

"Well, it was nice to see some of my family again." Commented the maid. "Also, I'm glad I made some progress."

" _Do not let your recent accomplishment fill your head with pride. You still have much to learn."_ Chided Zeratul, who currently sat on top of the carriage. His additional weight not being registered by the driver or the horses drawing it. _"But as far as I'm concerned, you both performed well enough."_

Both girls grinned at that. Siesta, knowing where he was, asked with her mind. _"Now what should we do next?"_

" _You should keep practicing using telepathy to communicate with Young Louise for the time being. She will be practicing her first void spell starting tomorrow."_

"Finally!" She almost cried out. "What is it going to be; levitation, conjurations, transmutation?"

" _Your first spell will be Void Prison."_ He clarified, _"You have seen me use it before, so it should be easier for you to familiarize yourself with its effect."_

The small teenager fidgeted in her seat in excitement. She loved learning things, the desire to learn fueled by her search for a spell she could cast without resulting in an explosion, it hadn't dwindled one bit since she was taught to read by her sisters and tutors.

"I will prepare myself for tomorrow then." She stated.

"And I will have some food ready for your training, Louise." Offered Siesta.

With that exchange, the two of them sat in a pleasant silence while the carriage reached its destination. The wall surrounding the school became larger with each passing minute until they arrived to the main gate. They thanked the driver and got off the vehicle, Siesta first to help Louise get down as was expected a servant to do.

The two of them found themselves missing the strange sense of normalcy the academy offered that didn't seem to have any right of existing give their current circumstances. Louise enjoyed being acquainted with how everything worked in here, not like that inn where she wanted to immediately kick someone's teeth in after a few hours.

"I'm sure Zapper missed me. I can't wait to see my familiar alive and well." A small nudge on her side from her friend and said, "And Derflinger… I want to see if that mouthy sword did what I told him."

"I'm sure he understood your orders quite well." Reassured the maid. She opened the door for her diminutive friend and followed after her. Once inside, she bumped into Louise who immediately stopped a few steps in. Looking above her pink head, she found the reason of her lack of movement.

The probe that was Louise's familiar went from here to there without a care as both students and servants reached down to greet it. The voice of Derflinger coming out of the carcass of the mechanical being responding with the same intonations of delusions of grandeur Louise grew so irritated with. Not bothering to hide his own name for the sake of boasting about his incredible nature, that he himself described so.

His rambling was cut short by the short-tempered girl shouting, "You!" It froze in place and slowly, almost comically, turned around to see her stomping over to him. "I give you one order. One! And what do you do?! Tell me."

"Ah, um… Pinky. Uh… Have you seen what nice weather we have today?" Stammered the sword. A few beeps came from Zapper and he responded, indignant. "Don't you dare weasel your way out of this mess. You roped me into this!"

"Come!" She yelled. Huffing and making her way to her room. The probe did its best to look dejected in contrast to Derflinger's whining. Siesta wisely decided not to intervene with the upcoming mess and went to see if Marteau needed something done.

The other people who witnessed her outburst shrugged and marked it off as another of the happenings of Louise the Zero.

Once they were alone in her room, Louise whirled around and pointed an accusatory finger at the body of her possessed familiar. "I want to know why you have the nerve of mingling with other people and go against your master's orders."

"Can I at least say that this was not my idea?" He asked meekly. The withering glare from her was all he was going to get in response. "Ok, ok. Look, I might have accidentally possibly unintentionally uttered something that may or may not sound like a word in front of someone when I thought that I was alone and went…." He trailed off.

"And went what?" She asked with little patience.

"Everyone went with it, ok? Sheesh, your familiar got uppity and tried to go after you the moment you left with me in tow." Seeing as Louise demanded more of an explanation, he continued hurriedly. "So there I was, relaxing on my spot off in the corner when suddenly that piece of junk snatched me from my sword and tried to go outside the school to do who knows what."

"I don't believe for a second. Zapper is a good familiar and I have more than enough reasons to think that you're trying to save face." Retorted the angry girl.

"I'm telling the truth! That thing went crazy and kidnapped me!" Yelled, Derflinger. "I wanted nothing to do with your familiar and someone saw us on the way out while I was telling it to leave me out of this and almost freaked out and all I could do was to lie and say that I was your familiar and was able to talk. Then the next thing I know that guy told everyone else about it and every person in the academy wanted to get to know the rare familiar that could speak and they all started treating me nice and all, but they don't seem to remember that it was your familiar they were fawning over." He ranted.

Louise pinched the bridge of her nose, withholding anger threatening to burst forth and throw the sword out of the window with only the reminder of having someone injured as the reason she didn't act upon that impulse. "So, you're saying that you made friends with every single person here while I was away and nobody thinks any different of me."

"Well… I wouldn't say that as much as they seemed to completely forget about you." A bottle of ink crashing at the wall made him reconsider his words. "Ok, calm down Pinky!"

"Calm down? Calm down?!" She started, "I have half a mind to bury you in the deepest, most stinky and dankest of pits I could find and leave you to rust. Granted, I wanted my familiar to be spectacular but not an anomaly!" She pulled the door of her room open and turned around, "I want you to think of the words that could make me even consider forgiving you and if you don't have them by the time I come back, I will personally make sure you could never be able to even cut hot butter for the next six thousand years!"

With that said, she slammed the door shut. Leaving behind a silent familiar with an equally silent artificial soul.

"Is this her time of the month?" He asked to nobody in particular.

A flash of numbers next to strange names like estrogen, progesterone and testosterone saying something about normal parameters was the only response from Zapper.

* * *

In somewhere else in the academy, Siesta was tasked with bringing a bottle of wine to a particular noble who was preparing a picnic. The brand and the year of it didn't strike her as something particularly expensive or luxurious, only the higher than normal grade of alcohol being the thing that caught her attention. She wasn't their mother to tell them what they could or couldn't drink, they were free to do so, but that didn't mean she didn't get worried from time to time that they would drink more than they could handle. They were young, after all, and thought themselves as free of consequence and invincible in their highborn arrogance.

The one who ordered the drink was none other that Montmorency Margarita la Fére de Montmorency. A daughter of a lesser noble family which was quite notable in regards of water magic, who was a well accomplished alchemist in the eyes of the academy.

Siesta found her where the blonde mage said she would be, in the western gardens in front of a checkered sheet with some assorted sweets and cups. It was something that would bring a smile to the maid if it weren't for the spiteful glare the girl was giving at the boy, Guiche, sitting in front of her. A glare that he was, or not, wise enough to ignore completely in the wake of being somewhat alone with his fiancée.

"Took you long enough, maid." She said. Not wanting to worsen the foul mood of the blonde brat, Siesta curtsied with a small bow and silence. She placed the bottle in the middle of the checkered sheet and offered her services to fetch them anything else, without and affirmative response, she left without saying anything else. Neither participant of the date saying something until she left.

Once she was far enough, she let out something between an exasperated sigh and a groan of relief. "And here I was thinking I wanted to go back to work." Looking to her current surroundings, she searched for prying eyes or ears paying attention to her.

There was not one soul in the gardens other than the couple she left behind and the invisible form of Zeratul hiding in a tree not too far from her, her intention of reaching out to say something being obvious to him, actively making his mind easier to find. _"I think there was something wrong there."_

" _It would seem so, yes. That girl was hiding something."_ He told her. _"Something that altered the mind, either an amulet or a poison."_

Siesta was taken aback by that. _"Are you sure? Those things are illegal and punishable by death in the worst of the cases."_

" _I am sure. I need you to intervene, be discreet."_

The maid nodded with determination and made to go back to the couple regardless of personal consequence. However, that was cut short by the approaching form of her friend Loise with a glare that could scare the most terrifying of spirits, the smaller girl grabbed her by the arm and told her, "Come with me."

"But Louise, I-"

"I don't care. I need someone to talk to and a drink." The figure of Guiche and Montmorency about to drink their first glass of wine became the focus of the pink haired mage's eyes and snatched the one from the boy. "I need this more that you, flirty dog."

Without hesitation or acknowledgement of her theft she drank the whole glass. The blonde girl nearly choked in her own drink when she say her doing that. "You dunce! Do you know what you did?!" She yelled.

"I interrupted your date, sorry." Louise responded, not sorry at all. "I'll get out of your hair now. Thanks for the drink, come on, Siesta."

The two of them left the duo of blondes behind, one of them outraged and the other in disbelief. "And here I thought that her familiar was a cool one."

"Shut up, Guiche. We have to go after them." Announced Montmorency, getting up quickly and almost falling after a bad running start.

"But what about our date?"

"Forget about it, we have to stop them."

Farther ahead of them, with a rapid pace, Louise was mumbling gibberish at Siesta. "And them I told him to stink himself off a dank!" Apparently, she stopped making any sense in less than half a minute. "And then, them, then he shut up and I came here to see my bestest friend in all of Halkeginia, besides Henrietta." She added.

"That is flattering, Louise but-" She was silenced by a finger to her lips.

"It's true, you made me feel like there was someone in this entire building that I could call friend." She leaned up closer to the maid's face, heat creeping in her cheeks at the closeness. "Maybe something more…"

Stammering and embarrassed, Siesta responded pushing the smaller girl away from her face, "Louise, I don't think you're thinking straight right now."

"Y'know? In a way, I think you're right." Siesta was grateful that they didn't find anyone on their way up to Louise's room to see them in this position. They didn't make it and stopped somewhere near a broom closet. The drunk closed the distance once again, intent clear to a blushing maid. A hand found her breast, earning a yelp, "You don't know how jealous I am of you somt'ms." She murmured.

"L-Louise, this is not appropriate behavior from a noble!" Siesta squeaked, pushing her away. The girl fell on her rump and let out a sniffle.

"But I love you…" She said pitifully. "Let me love you!" She repeated as she sprung forward and pushed her into the closet. She didn't get far as a clawed hand materialized behind her and grabbed her from the shoulder and part of her arm.

" _Young Louise, calm down. You're under the influence of a drug."_ Said Zeratul.

"Is that what it is?" Asked a fearful Siesta. "I thought- I thought for a second…"

" _Gifted Siesta, I need you to hold her off. Someone is coming."_

"They won't be the only ones!" Yelled Louise as she felt the hold on her relinquished and fell on top of the maid with mad intent in her eyes.

"Louise, restrain yourself!" Cried out Siesta.

"Wouldn't you like to see me 'restrained', eh?" What kind of things were in the usually prude girl's mind?

"Zero, stop this madness right now!" Came the voice of Montmorency, with Guiche running right behind her.

"No! I won't let you stop me from holding the love of my life." Louise stood with arms and legs spread as if to protect the prone maid.

"Louise, please stop. Do it for me?" Pleaded Siesta, appealing to whatever crazed feeling her friend had.

It did work, to a degree. "And what can you do to reassure me you won't steal her from me?"

" _Sleep."_ She fell like a sack of rocks.

"Huh," Said Guiche, "Looks like she couldn't handle her wine."

"Yeah… wine." Montmorency followed. "Maid, carry the Zero to my room. We have things to discuss."

As much as she wanted to strangle the little witch for what just happened, she gritted out the words. "As you say, my lady." She lifted up the limp form of her afflicted friend off the ground and followed the couple to the blonde's quarters. Where she would find the answer to whatever it was happening to Louise right now.


End file.
